cover girls

Stars Go Makeupless on the Cover of French Elle

The new French Elle features eight European celebrities on its multiple covers, un-retouched and wearing no makeup. Well, “Stars Sans Fards” loosely translates to “without makeup” but suggests a sense of openness in French. The cover girls include Monica Bellucci, Eva Herzigova, and Sophie Marceau, shot by Peter Lindbergh. French Elle editor Isabelle Maury said only Lindbergh was able to convince the ladies to go bare and un-retouched. And these women look pretty remarkable, which isn’t shocking, since they’re beautiful to begin with. However, WWD reports that the stars went through the usual hair-and-makeup routines before the photo shoot “to keep the photo-shoot ritual to which stars are accustomed.” The makeup was then removed with a lotion because, Lindbergh says, “the lotion captures the light and gives the face its life.” We think this is a wonderfully progressive idea and would love to see American magazines do things like this on a regular basis (oh, girls can dream). However we can’t help but wonder if the lotion-wiping technique was designed to leave a little bit of rouge behind so the ladies felt more comfortable.

FACE VALUE [WWD]

Stars Go Makeupless on the Cover of French Elle