Make-up artist Lucy Bridge on how she created a beauty book unlike any other

Of course, it’s trite to say a make-up artist treats a face like a canvas; but with Lucy Bridge the sentiment takes on a palpable truth. Over the course of her roughly decade-long career, Bridge has created some of this era’s most memorable editorial and runway make-up looks with her technical ingenuity (see her velvet lips for Tom Ford), original experimentation with colour and painterly approach to its application.

For her first book, Colour Mode, Bridge applies the same outré approach she is known for as a make-up artist to the process of documenting her work. Instead of compiling a look back at her highly impressive career so far, Bridge used the opportunity to commission entirely new stories by ten leading photographers, alongside a behind-the-scenes section, which showcases her creative process and working practices.

Created in close collaboration with renowned creative director Veronica Ditting, Colour Mode takes a radical approach to the traditional beauty book, making for a collectable document that showcases the work of some of the most talented image makers practising today. Here, Bridge speaks to Wallpaper* about the process of creating the book.

Wallpaper*: Why did now feel like the right time to create a book on your work?

Lucy Bridge: Veronica [Ditting] and I worked on a runway show together and she messaged me shortly after, saying if I ever wanted to do a book, we could collaborate. As soon as she asked me, I knew this was the right time. I instantly said yes, as I am a huge fan of Veronica’s work. From the beginning, I didn’t want to create a traditional make-up book like the ones we are so used to seeing, and I thought the combination of us working together meant we could explore what a make-up book can be. Veronica kept saying how I was the voice of my generation and this really sparked the idea [for the] book.

Wallpaper*: Why did you want to commission new stories for the book, rather than create a retrospective of your work so far?

LB: I wanted a new creative challenge. With the book, there was an opportunity to create new photographic stories where we could develop the concept from start to finish. I wanted to show the world my make-up, under my rules, working with the most inspiring collaborators, who are also a group of people I call friends.

We had created the ten main photographic stories and the 'Looks in Progress' stories, showing the process behind them... it was at this stage when I showed Tim Walker and he suggested that we include an archive section to show how my work has developed over the years as a make-up artist. The archive section is a way for me to look back and also offers a glimpse into where it all started, back in 2009.

W*: How did you select the photographers you wanted to work with? And, once commissioned, what was your process of working with each one to create an individual story?

LB: First, Veronica and I established the tone of the book as being both expressive and dynamic. Then, we started to talk about our dream list of photographers, and that also made us discuss how we wanted to push the imagery to create something unique. Veronica has an amazing process, where she prints out mini images of photographers’ work, and then Sellotapes them together to create a running storyline. We placed them all together to see which photographers would complement each other within a book. We were very lucky – almost all the photographers and collaborators we wanted to work with said yes! We also had to think about the style of the photographers – so they all had a point of difference in the book, but worked well visually with each other. We thought about the contrasts, daylight versus studio photography, extreme beauty versus minimal looks. Every detail was considered. Once we had an idea, we were then focused on starting a collaboration between the team to bring the whole shoot to life.

W*: Does seeing your work collected in one place like this give you any insight into your career so far?

LB: It has made me appreciate how incredible and fulfilling my make-up career has been so far. It’s easy to forget how much you have done; looking back at the archive section, especially, was such an experience. I’m so lucky to have had the career I've had at such a young age, and looking back over my early work reminded me of growing up in the countryside in the north of England and having dreams of working as a make-up artist in fashion in a big city. I could never have expected my career to take off in the way it has.

W*: Are there any lessons from the experience that you will carry into your work moving forward?

LB: The main lesson has been to not take this job for granted. I am so lucky to wake up every day and enjoy the work I do. Yes, it can be stressful at times; there is a lot of travelling and I am often in a high-pressure environment, but at the end of the day, I love being a make-up artist and creating all these different looks and characters for a living. It’s hard not to get sucked into the theatrics of the fashion world, but personally I have found a very good balance between work and a relatively normal personal life. For me, that’s always been important, to retain some normality in life, as my job is so far from “normal”’.

W*: What made Veronica Ditting such a good match for this collaboration?

LB: For both of us, expression plays a role in our work, and we are very particular about colour and texture. If you look at our wider work, you could say that we have different aesthetics. But we share a particularly steadfast process we hold on to when it comes to image-making. While my make-up approach is very avant-garde and Veronica’s work is very chic, through our creative conversations, we found a balance and a rhythm in our work together, which comes through in the book and tells the story of my make-up so beautifully.