MAW Vs Bitching and Junkfood Blog off: No bare faced cheek! Men in makeup

Part 1 of a bitch-fest-blog-off with M of Bitching and Junkfood...Starting today M and I are blogging on the keys trends emerging from London's highly directional underground club scene. These guys don't follow fashion, they tell it where to go and they make it happen. Let the bitching commence...



Above: Alexandra Moon-Age (left): 'Dem Bitches stole my facepaint!' to Nadir Tejani and Marshall Johnson (behind)

Men in makeup: hardly a new thing...back in the post-disco daze queens were kitting themselves out in face colour and straight guys were borrowing the ladeez makeup whether the women liked it or not.



Above: Claudio Claystl and mates get creative and just a little deranged with their colourful box of tricks. The face colour feeds through to their outfits which mix textures, patterns and colours.

But in recent years blokes, especially straight-ish ones pretty much forgot about makeup and despite market developments like Gaultier launching his own range specifically for men, a quick trackback of the celluloid archives of Boombox et al shows us that colourful faces were the exception rather than the norm...until now.



Above: tireless DJ and sometimes accessories designer Jun Shimbo with his signature liner. The success of Jun's look has inspired me to steal this lately but I struggle to achieve his subtlety...

Below: LCF student buddies Nadir and Marshall's face adornments have blown me away time after time. Their ability to create such drama while restricting themselves so often to a monochrome pallet shows just how inventive these guys are...





With the huge early 80s - early 90s revival, especially new romanticism, and the more gender-bending lens we've slapped onto nu-disco this year, makeup, facepaint and full-on facial accessories have become just another expected part of the look rather than a focus in themselves. From Jon Shimbo's trademark subtle black eye liner to Nadir Tejani's dramatic weekly facial art, the most directional individuals will rarely venture out with barefaced cheek...



Above: Love this look though I prefer even darker and more defined around the eyes so it really looks like a mask. A poster on the wall in the old Ghetto inspired me to try it a couple of years ago and I've gone back to it recently. It's fairly easy to achieve with masking tape. For a non-run effect apply Screenface's Luxe Creme Liner with a wet brush.



Above/below: Don't leave home without it....Men's makeup ain't the drama it once was. It's just as much an ordinary part of the outfit as the boots on yer feet.





Above/below (Andrew Carbery-Row): glam punk...at Dan Lismore's night, Slave to Fashion every Saturday at Beach Blanket Babylon, Shoreditch.





Camp Vamps at Dalston Superstore (above) and Slave to Fashion (below - Alejandro Gocast)






Above: another subtle look
Below: Gage...awesome.



BITCH THAT MARION!!!!

On ManAboutWorld's side of the MAW Vs Bitching and Junkfood slate...