In 1971, Ultima II became the first cosmetics company to sign a model- Lauren Hutton- to an exclusive contract. The move gained enough attention to make Lauren the first fashion model to grace the cover of Newsweek magazine. Ultima II went one step further, and signed photographer Richard Avedon as her exclusive photographer.
In 1983, Revlon hired Kevyn Aucoin, at the age of 21, as Creative Director for their prestige Ultima II line of cosmetics. A year later, Aucoin would launch The New Nakeds (later renamed The Nakeds), a groundbreaking line that was a strong counterpoint to cosmetics available at the time. Says Linda Wells, editor of Allure magazine, of the line: “It may not seem like it, but it was a powerful moment. Before, there were makeup lines for white women and others for black women. But he worked to design makeup for all skin tones. The idea was to empower a woman by revealing her natural beauty, and not to cover her up with layers of product.”
The New Nakeds embraced a radically different aesthetic than the norm of the time: foundations that featured a yellow undertone, instead of pink or peach; eyeshadow: lipstick and blushes were brown-based, neutral tones that were free of the pastel, vivid, or sparkly colours cosmetics companies knew sold better. Although Ultima II (and all of Revlon’s beauty divisions) were in a decline at the time, the New Nakeds resuscitated interest in the brand and help re-establish Ultima II as a viable competitor in the prestige arena.
The colours, textures and finishes Aucoin created in the New Nakeds would serve as the most influential direction of the latter part of the century, and visible as brands, MAC, Bobbi Brown, and Laura Mercier all launched with their version of the products Aucoin created years earlier.
source Wikipedia. full article here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevyn_Aucoin
photo courtesy http://www.jamesreadtan.com/
