HEiDi MORAWETZ...02/08/1939 - 08/09/2018
MAKEUP ARTiST 🖤
iNTERNATiONAL DIRECTOR of MAKEUP CREATiON STUDiO: CHANEL 1980-2008 🖤
Heidi Morawetz, should be refered to as a Makeup LEGEND. Throughout her career she created the makeup for some of the most iconic fashion references & advertisement campaigns while working with some of the biggest names in fashion photography such as #GuyBourdin , #Helmut Newton, #PatrickDemarchelier & #SarahMoon . She also deserves credit for contributing to the creation of some of the most iconic & innovative CHANEL products including #RougeNoir (known as #Vamp in the U.S.) & #BlackSatin Nail Polishes, #RougeAllureLipstick in 1994-95 & the revolutionary foundation, Mat Lumiere; the first foundation formula to use lightreflecting pigments, allowing the skin to appear smoother, a technology still used in most foundations today.
She also has the most amazing & incredibly serendipitous story. So let’s start at the beginning...Heidi was born & raised in Austria, she later graduated from the Hetzendorf Fashion School & attended the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna, where she studied everything except Makeup Artistry...then by a beautiful chance while vacationing in Paris, she was approached by her best girlfriends’ husband about doing makeup for his photography. Having no experience she was skeptical but he simple said to her “Well, if you can paint on paper! You must be able to paint on a face. This is the makeup box, & this is how you have to start.”* The photographer was none other then the world renowned #GuyBourdin . Heidi unknowingly was thrown into a career that would become incredibly important in the BEGiNNiNG of the new industry of Editorial & Fashion Makeup Artistry.
Her work with Bourdin has proved timeless & is some of the most inspiring and colorful makeup that anyone had seen at the time. Complexions were often lightened & milky to assure the vibrancy of the other colors, bright fuchsias & shades of red were used to sculpt the cheek bones & frame the eyes, which were often painted with beautiful shades of purples & blues, topped with “long fuzz lashes”* always paired with a perfect red lip. We must remember this was a pre digital era, a time when photographers ONLY shot with Film, there were no monitors on set to check and tweak the makeup resulting in no room for errors. To assure perfection Heidi always did full body makeup in addition to the beauty makeup because there was absolutely no retouching done. She also spoke of the importance of using a heavier and more vibrant applications to assure the makeup could withstand the lighting for the different photographers she would work with. It was this natural talent & attention to detail that would end up landing her the next most important moment in her career.
1978, being impressed & inspired by the makeup she created with Bourdin #YvesSaintLaurent hires Heidi to help create the very first YSL Makeup Line; which still to this day is a huge contribution to the brands profits.
1980 After overhearing a frustrated Heidi on a phone call with YSL Beauty, her friend #DominiqueMoncourtois ; “international director of makeup creation” for CHANEL convinced her to come work with him by simply calling her & saying “Just come and work for Chanel.”* Heidi accepted & became the “Director of the Makeup Creation Studio” at #CHANEL .The two of them would work side by side throughout the next 30 years. She once described her dream job as “getting paid to play with makeup” while creating all of the Makeup Looks for the fashion Shows and Campaigns, often mixing colors and pigments at their homes, the pairs passions for Makeup Creation helped to create some of CHANEL’S most iconic & biggest selling cosmetic colors & formulations. Moncourtois has often described himself as a technician, calling Morawetz the “aesthete.” “Dominique has always been on the forefront of technology, both in textures and delivery systems,” said Chiquet. “And Heidi has an incredible eye for color. Together, they’ve been unstoppable.”* During their 30 years at CHANEL Heidi & Dominique solidify the luxury cosmetics world, by changing the way consumers viewed Makeup, it was NOW just as important & fashionable accessory. Heidi & Dominique stepped down from CHANEL in 2008 passing their reign to Makeup Artist #PeterPhillips .
*a quote from Heidi for “Interview
Magazine” by Peter Philips published September 1, 2011
**a quote from Maureen Chiquet for “Beauty Beat: Cosmetics Creators Depart Chanel...” for “WWD” published 10/25/2007