RiCHARD SHARAH💄MAKEUP ARTiST
- Heather Pepe
- Apr 11, 2021
- 2 min read
A very important artist in Makeup History, #RiCHARDSHARAH helped usher in the #NewRomantics & the #BlitzKids with a client list including #DavidBowie #SteveStrange #ZandraRhodes & #RobynBeeche just to name a few.
Richard was slightly colorblind but it seemed to only add to his artistic abilities, described as the ‘Picasso’ of the makeup world, he was also known for his undying passion for art💄his abstract use of colors & impeccably blended applications, filled a gap in the world of beauty, “He was the leader (in the Makeup Industry), at the time beauty ideals were limited, he broke the boundaries of what you could or should put on a face.”-Zandra Rhodes*💄Richard was never a snob about brands, he used what worked, & if he couldn’t find something he’d make it “i used to help him make his own powders,he would put #MaxFactorPancake base into a blender. He had a brush for everything” #RaeMorris * #MakeupArtist #Dottie recalls another favorite technique “it’s a Kryolan white face paint that he left to dry out then broke it down in a mortar&pestle. A tricky product to apply, you must use a certain size brush & be swift in its application, but the finish is stain white skin that’s beyond anything to shoot!”
One of Richard’s most notable collaborations is with David Bowie for #AshestoAshes & #ScaryMonsters It’s important to note Bowie was known for creating face charts for some of his most iconic makeup looks & he created the entire story board for the Music Video #AshestoAshes but it’s said he gave Richard creative freedom in creating his own vision of #Pierrot & looking at Bowie’s Story Board Sketches you can see how brilliantly Richard took his vision & artwork as inspiration in the final look. #FUNFACT #SteveStrange another one of Richards clients, takes claim for referring Sharah to Bowie when he asked about a makeup artist for the video.💋
Richard did my make up in Sydney in 1973 when I was seventeen and visiting from the UK to meet my father for the first time. I have always remembered this lovely very tall man who put A LOT of pink on my face in areas which were never traditionally covered in pink! And then the photographer shot everything in black and white! I still have the photos which were not the best ones as the best were in an album which my father burnt later on as he objected to some nude ones which were also in it. I do treasure the ones I still have!