PHOTOGRAPHY: “It’s Sheer! It’s Queer! It’s Shiny and It Never Smears!” - a Closer Look at the Photo Series That Reimagines Vintage Beauty Ads.

Feb 1

Brainchild of New York photographer Julia Comita and makeup artist Brenna Drury, Prim 'N Poppin’ is a new photo series that reinterprets iconic beauty advertisements from the 70s and 80s, opting for more inclusivity as opposed to white, cisgender, heteronormative standards of beauty.

In an essay for the project, Koko Ntuen wrote: “Prim ‘N Poppin’ is a pastel-beauty-art-dream, that serves as both antithesis, and an ode to the slow evolving beauty industry. Traditionally the world of beauty advertising has been a place of fantasy and luxe destiny. The escapism came in glossy campaigns starring actresses and models, colours and scents that lured you into an endless possibility of adventure. For a large population, however, engaging in this sector also comes with underlying messages of marginalisation and exclusion.”

The creators of the photo series also see the work as a call to action to the beauty industry to relook its role in perpetuating harmful messaging and exclusionary practices.

“Julia and I asked ourselves, ‘What would the future look like today if these advertisements had been the standard of the past?’ As creatives, we want to challenge the industry to take responsibility for their marketing and diversify their talent pool,” stated Drury in a press release for the project.