Modern Tag

At first blush, one might describe Isamaya Ffrench as a makeup artist (or MUA), however the label proves woefully reductive. While her painted faces have graced the runways of Thom Browne, Junya Watanabe, and Vivienne Westwood, she is an artist with a capital A. Citing English painter Francis Bacon, French photographer and perfumer Serge Lutens, and Japanese illustrator Hajime Sorayama as inspirations—visual artists who were once on the vanguard of innovation—Ffrench is now carrying the torch forward in her own way. Using the human face and body as her canvases—including those of Cher, Bella Hadid, and most recently Kate Moss for the September 2022 cover of French Vogue, not to say her own—she often conjures whiplash lines characteristic of Art Nouveau while...