Shu Uemura, Beauty Pioneer

Shu Uemura, Beauty Pioneer 1928 - 2007
AC Editor Lia Chang remembers Mr. Uemura through her camera lens and
an exclusive interview with the make-up master.

Makeup legend Shu Uemura succumbed to pneumonia in Tokyo on December 29, 2007. He was 79. He is survived by his wife and a son.

AsianConnections' Lia Chang spoke with Mr. Uemura in New York when he gave a rare art performance at the Milk Studios in 2004.

With a twinkle in his eye and a spring in his step, Shu Uemura, dressed in a crisp suit of white linen shared his legacy in the artistry of makeup and his latest Mode Makeup with a select audience in the airy loft space of the Milk Studios in New York.

During this rare makeup demonstration, which he has performed in Tokyo and London, the charming and elegant makeup legend began the evening's performance in a lighthearted fashion, as the sun set on the Hudson River.

"I've been doing makeup since the late 50's," he said. "Most of you were not on the planet yet when I started. It's been over 50 years. I would like to say with pride that I am the world's oldest living makeup artist, but at heart I'm the youngest makeup artist."

This pioneering spirit was the first Japanese makeup artist to establish his own company under his own name- shu uemura cosmetics, inc in 1965.

Born on June 19, 1928, his flair for the dramatic began early on in his native Japan. As a student he immersed himself in art, painting, and music and appeared in stage plays. During WWII, he was enrolled at the prestigious Seijo School.

Raised in a family of business and bankers, he was aware his talents lay elsewhere. In his 20's, Shu Uemura considered an actor's life, but knew his poor health as a youth would prevent him from being physically capable of living it. In pursuit of beauty in all its forms, he signed up at the Tokyo Beauty Academy, channeling his creative juices into working as a hairdresser. His natural progression was in a sort of performance of art.

He made inroads on the Hollywood scene in 1957 when Universal was in occupied Japan shooting Joe Butterfly. Shu Uemura hit his mark while working on Paramount's film My Geisha with Edward G. Robinson, by transforming Shirley MacLaine into a traditional looking Geisha complete with jet-black wig.

The young Uemura paid his dues in Hollywood along side makeup masters Frank Westmore, Web Overlander, Ben Lane, Gordon Bau and George Lane working with 1950s Hollywood stars like Frank Sinatra and others.

While at Columbia Pictures, head makeup director Ben Lane introduced him to the cleansing oil called UnMask, an ideal product to remove the heavy stage makeup applied on the faces of starlets and screen idols for film. He obtained a license to import it and be the agent for the product in Japan. In 1960, he created his signature water-soluble beauty cleansing oil- a gentle cleanser for the skin which proved to be revolutionary.

Returning to Tokyo in 1964, he established the Shu Uemura Makeup Institute, his professional makeup artist studio to share his Hollywood experience and expertise with other artists interesting in learning about makeup techniques.

In 1968, he created his Mode makeup line, similar to the premise of fashion designers that unveil their Spring and Fall collections twice a year.

"When I started in the 50's, makeup was very thick. Ideas about it were very limited and restricted. I wanted to overcome that and follow what was going on in the fashion world at that point- Paco Rabbane and Courreges. I wanted to imitate what they were doing, overcoming barriers and limits that had been imposed upon makeup and makeup artists. There was a lot of optical art being developed, if you can have patterns in fabrics and clothing, why not the face?" he said.

In 1978, the Institute evolved to become the Shu Uemura Beauty College. Transformed in 1983 to Shu Uemura makeup, Inc., over 400 cosmetologists and makeup artists graduate each year from Japan's largest student body of beauty education.

Realizing his dream in 1983, he opened his first Beauty Boutique in Tokyo. He proceeded on with his global expansion with boutiques in Hong Kong, Paris, West Hollywood, across Europe and the Middle East in the late 80's and early 90's.

In 1999, at Japan's Muroto Cape in Kochi Prefecture, Shu Uemura opened the Muroto Factory Museum where he explored the effective use of 100% pure deep-sea water in cosmetics. This water travels around the world in the bottom layer of the ocean and only resurfaces in certain areas of the world-in Norway, Hawaii and at Japan's Muroto Cape. The deep sea water has 60 types of minerals in it, comes from the depths of the ocean off Japan's Cape Muroto and is pumped up right from the source and bottled as a series of hydrating deep-sea ocean water mineral sprays for the face, hair and the body. The deep-sea water is a key ingredient in his new Water Perfect foundation, and the Depsea Therapy Moisture Recovery skincare series.

In November 2000, a strategic alliance was announced between the L'Oreal Group and Shu Uemura cosmetics, inc. L'Oreal acquired a majority stake in the company in November 2003 and the shu uemura line of skincare, makeup brushes, compacts, cosmetic cases and the wide spectrum of makeup colors is available around the world.

AsianConnections' Fashion and Beauty editor Lia Chang chatted with Mr. Uemura on the terrace of his suite at the W Hotel in New York on the morning prior to his evening makeup performance. Over a breakfast of sliced fruit and fresh squeezed orange juice, Mr. Uemura talked about his early years both in Hollywood and Japan, his definition of Asian Beauty, and why he equates makeup with love and affection.

Go to page 2 for Lia Chang's exclusive 2004 interview with make-up legend Shu Uemura.

AsianConnections' New York bureau chief Lia Chang chatted with make-up legend Shu Uemura on the terrace of his suite at the W Hotel in New York on the morning prior to his evening makeup performance.

Over a breakfast of sliced fruit and fresh squeezed orange juice, Mr. Uemura talked about his early years both in Hollywood and Japan, his definition of Asian Beauty, and why he equates makeup with love and affection.

Lia: How do you define Asian Beauty?
Mr. Uemura: When I was younger there was whole admiration and adoration for the Caucasian ideal emphasized and embodied by Hollywood. And perhaps it was the mentality of an occupied Japan. In the last ten years, I feel there's this whole new appreciation for Asian Beauty. There's a whole element of warmth that draws people in, in Asian Beauty. When Eurocentric idealizes art - it demands adoration, clearly the beautiful one is on a pedestal. With Asian Beauty of all sorts, it approaches and actively draws the seeker in. It tenders its beauty into you as a gift. The Eurocentric one perhaps is colder and demands and insists on adoration.

Before when there was a much more Eurocentric, Hollywood emphasis on beauty, many Asian women spent a lot of money and time trying to get the double-lidded effect. And the eyeliner, the pulling back. Now without the fold is much more attractive. Beauty has to be found out from foreigners. You only appreciate your own when someone else tells you that what you have is beautiful. The Westerners are saying this kind of eye is so beautiful. Perhaps the Asian woman is appreciating herself even more.

Lia: When you look at a face, what inspires you to give it the Shu Uemura finish?
Mr. Uemura: I think I look at what that person conveys to me. I look first of all at the naked face. I look at what the person conveys to me in terms of her spirit. Then I see her highlights, the really remarkable points. And then maybe there are some points that might want to be de-emphasized. It's like someone who is a cook or a chef, you look at the ingredients that you have and then you work with it to develop it the best.

Lia: What is the Shu Uemura signature look?
Mr. Uemura: The healthy quality of the skin. And then I will look at the mood that that person conveys. The atmosphere. Within the Shu Uemura palette, there is the color called no makeup. Minimalism. Simplicity, keep it basic, keep it clean. Too much makeup is really unattractive.

Lia: How is your art influenced by your culture?
Mr. Uemura: We're going back 50 years now. When I was in the latter half of my 20's, before that I was an invalid and was not very active. When I was cured, I thought I have to pursue something. I have to make up for lost time. I thought very carefully about what I loved best. And it was beauty in all its forms. I come from a family of business people and bankers. I admired what they did, but knew my talents lay elsewhere, in the arts. At one point, I wanted to be an actor. Because I was invalid, I thought physically I wasn't capable of it. My natural progression was in a sort of performance of art, in front of people.

Lia: What was it like to work in Hollywood?
Mr. Uemura: I think I was obsessed. I was 27 or 28. It was very exciting. I was learning as I was working. And there were a lot of first time experiences, things that I had never seen before or heard about before. So it was an eye opening experience. And I was very young. All combined to make a very eventful time in my life.

Lia: Was the Joe Butterfly Hollywood set in Japan the first you worked on as a makeup artist?
Mr. Uemura; The Americans would arrive in Japan and do the filming, it was occupied Japan after all. At the time, it was difficult to take a Japanese crew or Japanese out of Japan to bring them to the United States.

Lia: Were you already doing makeup in Japan?
Mr. Uemura: I was a student at the Tokyo Beauty Academy and they were looking for makeup artists. They were hiring local talent, in front of the camera and behind the scenes. Most of the major makeup artists in Hollywood were male. A top makeup artist from Hollywood and he wanted an assistant. He requested a male assistant. In a class of 130 in the beauty school, I was the only man, the rest were all women. Why don't you have this young guy, he's one of our promising students. From beauty school, I went to working on None But the Brave , a war film directed by and starring Frank Sinatra. I spent two months with marines on a marine airbase. I did special effects, bloody scenes, so it wasn't pretty.

Lia: So you were learning on the job?
Mr. Uemura: Shooting filming was just so exciting, it didn't really matter what it was, and just being on the set was exciting. The director yells here we go, people tense up, he yells action, and they all start doing something totally unnatural. Then the director yells cut and they all relax.

Lia: How did you develop your signature water-soluble Beauty Cleansing Oil?
Mr. Uemura: When I was at Columbia Pictures, the head makeup director Ben Lane was very kind to me and taught me a lot. He introduced me to the best stuff in the world for getting off heavy makeup, a cleansing oil called Unmask. I brought the cleansing oil back to Japan. My friends really like it. We got a license to import it and be the agents for the product in Japan. When they agreed to let us manufacture the cleansing oil in Japan, thats when the development and improvements began.

Lia: You make a lot of women happy.
Mr. Uemura: That's a really nice thing to say. That's the best thing. It's important to make people happy. It's even more important to make women happy. I think makeup is about love, not to be sentimental, self-love and self-respect. I think makeup is all about affection. When you put on makeup, do your skincare, do your facials, go to a spa, people are touching you gently the way perhaps your mother touched you as a child, it is a form of affection. It's enormous love and gentleness. Perhaps what beauty is about, to inspire love, to receive love, to give love.

Shu Uemura Cosmetics Inc., which is part of L'Oreal, will hold a commemoration ceremony on January 31, 2008 in Tokyo.
www.shuuemura.com.