Make-Up Exploration
Georgie Kennett
Fashion Editorial Henna Inspired Makeup
History of Henna
The art of henna (called mehndi in Hindi & Urdu) has been practiced for over 5000 years in Pakistan, India, Africa and the Middle East. There is some documentation that it is over 9000 years old. Because henna has natural cooling properties, people of the desert, for centuries, have been using henna to cool down their bodies. They make a paste of henna and soak their palms and soles of the feet in it to get an air conditioning affect. They feel its cooling sensation throughout the body for as long as the henna stain remains on their skin. Initially, as the stain faded away, it left patterns on the skin surface which led to ideas to make designs for decorative purposes.
Henna is traditionally used for special occasions like holidays, birthdays and weddings in Africa, Pakistan, India, and the Middle East. The most popular of the traditions is the Mehndi (henna) Night where the bride, her family, relatives and friends get together to celebrate the wedding to come. The night is filled with games, music and dance performances that may have been rehearsed for months prior to the event by those closest to the bride while the bride gets extensive henna patterns done on her hands and feet that go to her elbows and sometimes, knees. The bridal patterns can take hours and are often done by multiple henna artists. The guests will usually receive small designs (tattoos) on the backs of their hands as well.
Today, brides prefer to have their henna done prior to the mehndi night so that they can enjoy the festivities and also have a deeper stain by the wedding day. Today people all over the world have adopted the ancient traditions of adorning their bodies with the beautiful natural artwork created from the henna plant. It became a very popular form of temporary body decoration in the 90's in the US and has become a growing trend ever since. There has been increasing henna inspired make-up used in fashion. Images and information: Silk&Stone (2015). About Henna. [online]. Available from: http://silknstone.com/About-Henna.html. [Accessed 20 January 2015].
Alex Box
The three images above are work created by Alex Box, The ideas behind the lines drawn on the face reflect somewhat the ideas of mendi. The makeups also verge on tribal. In particular the third image is an interesting fashion editorial makeup that although is not initially seen as henna the shapes and thought behind it closely link.
The three images have been taken from Alex Box's book: Rankin and Box, A. (2009) Alex Box by Rankin. London: Rankin Photography.
The two images above show how the henna inspired makeup is often applied onto the face and body instead of just the hands like the images previous to these. The two make up artists are Peter Philips and Nick Barose. The second image also experiments with the use of non traditional colours. Reference: Marie and the makeup. (2014).[online] Rihanna. Available from: http://marieandthemakeup.com/tag/rihanna/. [Accessed 02 February 2015].
Another two examples of how Mendi/Henna can influence a fashion makeup look. The first experimiments with different shapes and details in the placing of traditional henna and the second is a makeup using lace effect paper cut outs applied on to the face that look really similar to henna designs. References: Phyllis Cohen. (2014). [online] Face Lace. Available from: http://www.everbluec.com/2012/03/face-lace-by-phyllis-cohen.html. [Accessed 7 February 2015}.
The three images above are all from: Tumblr. (2014). Bollywood Fahion. [online] Available from: http://bollywoodfashion.tumblr.com/. [Accessed 28 Janurary 2015].
The first two images show how henna can be used in fashion editiorial work, the third image is more of a commercial fashion image. Both looks use the hands to show off the henna however the henna can be applied to other areas like the face if the henna applied isnt real henna that stains the skin.