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Kevyn Aucoin was born today, February 14, in 1962. He was a make-up artist, photographer, and author. He has been called the greatest Makeup artist ever. He was the subject of the documentary film Kevyn Aucoin: Beauty and the Beast In Me.
Aucoin was born in Shreveport, Louisiana and grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana, with his adoptive parents.
Aucoin was interested in makeup from the time he was a child, and frequently did his sisters' makeup and photographed the results with a Polaroid camera—something he'd do throughout his career. Afraid to buy makeup, he would shoplift it. The guilt of stealing and fear of getting caught made him stop.
He realized he was gay at age 6,and was frequently bullied at school. His parents were initially in denial of their son's emerging sexual orientation; his mother later said, "I didn't think Kevyn was a sissy; I just thought he was a gentle child." In one instance, a teacher spanked his bare buttocks in class, which Aucoin later regarded as sexual abuse. The bullying continued in high school, and he dropped out after being chased by several classmates in a truck. He enrolled in beauty school and had hoped to learn more about applying makeup, but ended up teaching the class instead.
At 18, Aucoin worked in a small corner of an exclusive women's store in Lafayette. But the women were uncomfortable with a man doing their makeup. Thelma Aucoin recalled, "It was $30 for a makeup lesson, and these were women who paid $3,000 for a dress, but they'd never let him."
In 1982, Aucoin moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, hoping to start a career as a makeup artist. While in Baton Rouge, he was assaulted by a security guard at Godchaux's, a local department store. He was there with male friends to check out new makeup, when the guard approached them and said "upstairs or downtown," meaning they could be taken to the store's security office or be arrested. Aucoin and his friends opted for the security office, where they were beaten by security personnel. Fearing for his life, he decided to move to New York City with his then-boyfriend Jed Root (who sometimes posed as his manager) to begin his career.
When he first arrived in New York, Aucoin was putting makeup on test models for free to build up his portfolio before he was discovered by Vogue. For the next year and a half, he worked daily with Vogue photographer Steven Meisel. In the 3 years following his first Vogue shoot, he did a total of 18 more. In 1984, he collaborated on Revlon's Nakeds line, the first line based solely on skin tones. However, his Vogue cover shoot with supermodel Cindy Crawford in 1986 took his career in a new direction. During 1987-89, he did nine Vogue covers in a row, and an additional seven Cosmopolitan covers. At his peak, he would often be booked months in advance and could command as much as $6,000 for a makeup session.
Aucoin worked with hundreds of celebrities including Whitney Houston, Cher, Liza Minnelli, Janet Jackson, Tina Turner, Gwyneth Paltrow, Lisa Marie Presley, Courtney Love, and Vanessa L. Williams.
Aucoin made appearances on Good Morning America and The Oprah Winfrey Show. He also appeared as himself in an episode of Sex and the City called "The Real Me" (Season 4, Episode 2), doing Carrie Bradshaw's makeup for a fashion show during New York Fashion Week.
Aucoin's parents eventually came to accept his homosexuality and started a chapter of P-FLAG in Lafayette.
Aucoin lived with his partner, Jeremy Antunes, whom he began dating in 1999, married in an unofficial ceremony in Hawaii in 2000 and thereafter referred to as his husband. He had also previously been romantically involved with Eric Sakas, who remained a close friend after their breakup and became president and creative director of Kevyn Aucoin Beauty.
Aucoin also obtained legal guardianship of his niece Samantha, then 15, who was living with Aucoin and Antunes.
In September 2001, Aucoin was diagnosed with a rare pituitary tumor. He had been suffering from acromegaly resulting from the tumor for much of his life, but it had gone undiagnosed.
Aucoin began taking increasing amounts of prescription and non-prescription painkillers to ease his physical and mental suffering. Antunes implored Aucoin to get help, and while Aucoin tried to recover, he could not stop the drug use entirely. Antunes went to Paris for a week to be alone, and in that time, Aucoin became ill and was hospitalized Antunes' leaving Aucoin for what became the last week of his life created animosity between Aucoin's family and Antunes, resulting in Antunes being locked out of the home he shared with Aucoin.
Aucoin died on May 7, 2002 at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, New York of kidney and liver failure due to acetaminophen toxicity, caused by prescription painkillers.
Aucoin was interested in makeup from the time he was a child, and frequently did his sisters' makeup and photographed the results with a Polaroid camera—something he'd do throughout his career. Afraid to buy makeup, he would shoplift it. The guilt of stealing and fear of getting caught made him stop.
He realized he was gay at age 6,and was frequently bullied at school. His parents were initially in denial of their son's emerging sexual orientation; his mother later said, "I didn't think Kevyn was a sissy; I just thought he was a gentle child." In one instance, a teacher spanked his bare buttocks in class, which Aucoin later regarded as sexual abuse. The bullying continued in high school, and he dropped out after being chased by several classmates in a truck. He enrolled in beauty school and had hoped to learn more about applying makeup, but ended up teaching the class instead.
At 18, Aucoin worked in a small corner of an exclusive women's store in Lafayette. But the women were uncomfortable with a man doing their makeup. Thelma Aucoin recalled, "It was $30 for a makeup lesson, and these were women who paid $3,000 for a dress, but they'd never let him."
In 1982, Aucoin moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, hoping to start a career as a makeup artist. While in Baton Rouge, he was assaulted by a security guard at Godchaux's, a local department store. He was there with male friends to check out new makeup, when the guard approached them and said "upstairs or downtown," meaning they could be taken to the store's security office or be arrested. Aucoin and his friends opted for the security office, where they were beaten by security personnel. Fearing for his life, he decided to move to New York City with his then-boyfriend Jed Root (who sometimes posed as his manager) to begin his career.
When he first arrived in New York, Aucoin was putting makeup on test models for free to build up his portfolio before he was discovered by Vogue. For the next year and a half, he worked daily with Vogue photographer Steven Meisel. In the 3 years following his first Vogue shoot, he did a total of 18 more. In 1984, he collaborated on Revlon's Nakeds line, the first line based solely on skin tones. However, his Vogue cover shoot with supermodel Cindy Crawford in 1986 took his career in a new direction. During 1987-89, he did nine Vogue covers in a row, and an additional seven Cosmopolitan covers. At his peak, he would often be booked months in advance and could command as much as $6,000 for a makeup session.
"I work in an industry with some of the meanest people who have ever walked the face of the earth, who live and die for the surface. But the way I see it, I have a responsibility to do the most I can do, the way I know how. Since I know how to apply makeup, that's what I do and use it as a platform." --Kevyn AucoinHis motto was that it was far more important to help a woman feel beautiful no matter what, and that makeup was simply his tool for helping her discover herself. A proponent of the philosophy that every woman is beautiful within, he was one of the best-paid celebrity make-up artists in history. He began writing a column for Allure. A comment he made in a 2000 column, calling members of the National Rifle Association "morons" drew a record amount of mail for the column and a few death threats.
Aucoin worked with hundreds of celebrities including Whitney Houston, Cher, Liza Minnelli, Janet Jackson, Tina Turner, Gwyneth Paltrow, Lisa Marie Presley, Courtney Love, and Vanessa L. Williams.
He began publishing his work in books: The Art of Makeup, Making Faces, and Face Forward. Making Faces debuted at number one. The books featured celebrities, as well as everyday men and women, including his mother, in makeup and costume (and sometimes prosthetics) designed to make them look like other celebrities or historical figures. He transformed Tori Amos into Mary, Queen of Scots, Celine Dion into Maria Callas, Lisa Marie Presley into Marilyn Monroe, among others.
Aucoin made appearances on Good Morning America and The Oprah Winfrey Show. He also appeared as himself in an episode of Sex and the City called "The Real Me" (Season 4, Episode 2), doing Carrie Bradshaw's makeup for a fashion show during New York Fashion Week.
Aucoin's parents eventually came to accept his homosexuality and started a chapter of P-FLAG in Lafayette.
Aucoin lived with his partner, Jeremy Antunes, whom he began dating in 1999, married in an unofficial ceremony in Hawaii in 2000 and thereafter referred to as his husband. He had also previously been romantically involved with Eric Sakas, who remained a close friend after their breakup and became president and creative director of Kevyn Aucoin Beauty.
Aucoin also obtained legal guardianship of his niece Samantha, then 15, who was living with Aucoin and Antunes.
In September 2001, Aucoin was diagnosed with a rare pituitary tumor. He had been suffering from acromegaly resulting from the tumor for much of his life, but it had gone undiagnosed.
Aucoin began taking increasing amounts of prescription and non-prescription painkillers to ease his physical and mental suffering. Antunes implored Aucoin to get help, and while Aucoin tried to recover, he could not stop the drug use entirely. Antunes went to Paris for a week to be alone, and in that time, Aucoin became ill and was hospitalized Antunes' leaving Aucoin for what became the last week of his life created animosity between Aucoin's family and Antunes, resulting in Antunes being locked out of the home he shared with Aucoin.
Aucoin died on May 7, 2002 at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, New York of kidney and liver failure due to acetaminophen toxicity, caused by prescription painkillers.
