Mert and Marcus, Lancôme Team on Makeup Capsule
The limited-edition After Dark collection will be sold in Europe starting in February.
PARIS – Fashion photographers Mert
Alas and Marcus Piggott have stepped out from behind the camera to partner with Lancôme on a capsule makeup collection.
It is the first beauty collaboration for the duo, known professionally as Mert and Marcus, who opted to conceive a colorcosmetics range for nighttime.
The limited-edition line is due out in Europe starting in February and the U.S. in March.
Beauty and cosmetics have been very much a part of their work. “From the beginning of our career until now, we were always involved in building our characters — sometimes through fashion, sometimes through hair and makeup — so we have always been interested in the cosmetic side of fashion photography,” said Alas.
The photographer called the beauty collaboration “a very interesting process,” and explained that he and Piggott have a certain way of preparing models for their pictures, doing makeup, retouching images and printing photos.
“We wanted to combine all these details. We have tricks for how we work with our women’s lips or eyes, or how we can make their cheeks a little longer,” he said. “We were interested in taking these photographic techniques and our expertise in beauty into the cosmetics world and developing products out of them.”
The duo wanted to respect the DNA of Lancôme, whose women Alas described as “sophisticated, elegant, contemporary,
Parisian, women of lifestyle and of the day mostly.”
“For the past 25 years, as image-makers we have worked to break rules, push boundaries and stretch the limits of our acceptance within fashion photography,”
Alas continued. “Our photography has always tended to be a little on the dark side. I needed more questions, substance and depth. It was important that this rebellion was reflected in our makeup collaboration. We wanted to create a woman for Lancôme who is more nocturnal, to add a dark side to this iconic brand that all women love. After Dark came from there, because we wanted this character to be more of a night cat and slightly more dangerous.