Lucy Bridge Wants To Bring Colour Back to Beauty

As her debut book Colour Mode is released, the make-up artist talks us through her technicolour world

Lucy Bridge has always lived her life in full colour. When she was at school, the make-up artist dyed her hair a new shade every week, much to the despair of her teachers, and after moving to London in 2008, it was her affinity for popping to the shops with neon pink blusher and green glitter eyebrows that turned the head of famed photographer Tim Walker – who scouted her for a shoot in i-D after spotting her on the 55 bus. 

Today, she is one of fashion’s most prominent talents, known for colouring outside the lines and a roster that includes Jean Paul Gaultier, Charles Jeffrey, Dries Van Noten and Tom Ford, where she is now global makeup artist for the brand under Haider Ackermann. A scroll through her kaleidoscopic oeuvre reveals crimson lacquered lips that deepen to merlot at the edges, acid green eyeshadow and licks of molten silver and gold. It’s an urgent antidote to the neutral tones of the minimalist ‘Clean Girl’ who currently reigns in beauty. 

It comes as no surprise, then, that her debut book Colour Mode, created over three and a half years in collaboration with creative director Veronica Ditting, is a smorgasbord of shades. A trip down the rabbit hole into the make-up artist’s mind, alongside ten commissioned shoots – featuring photographers Paolo Roversi, Oliver Hadlee Pearch and Thurstan Redding – ‘Looks in Process’ captured by Jean Marques offers a glimpse into the fantastical creations as they come together.

Here, Bridge talks us through the inspiration behind three of the stories in Colour Mode and her collaborative process with each photographer. 

Carlijn Jacobs 

“This shoot really represents my head as a make-up artist and what goes on in my brain. It’s totally bonkers, so abstract and very out there. I must admit it’s my favourite one out of the whole book, all the wacky colours. We started with beads on the face and we needed another beaded element somewhere. I tried them on the eyes; it wasn’t quite working. We tried the hands, it didn’t work. I was like, ‘Right, one of these models needs to give me one of their feet’ and honestly it was incredible. After I did the foot, Lauren Michelle Pires tested out a few different colours and then actually put fake toenails on. On the day, Carlijn was like ‘I didn’t really understand the foot when you were doing it, but my agent is obsessed’ and anyone I’ve shown this shoot to has been mesmerised by the foot. I don’t really know where it came from, it just sprang from my imagination. I need it blown up one day and put up in my house.” 

Tim Walker 

“I’ve been working with Tim on and off for the past 15 years. He’s been so nurturing. He’s really helped me throughout my whole career and given me a platform. He was inspired by the psychedelic hippie group from 1970s San Francisco, The Cockettes and I did some wacky make-up inspired by them. There’s a lot of trust between me and Tim, so we didn’t have too much back and forth before the shoot – we had a cup of tea in the morning and a little discussion and then we cracked on. I knew I wanted a simple white background so the make-up was the focus and then we worked with Gerry O’Kane to create these characters. Tim has been in the game for a long time and he knows what he wants to do, so I knew we were going to get something incredible.” 

Jack Davison 

“Jack was actually the last photographer to shoot for the book, it took us about two years to get together. I’d only worked with Jack once previously, but Veronica had a long-standing relationship with him – she calls him the magician. I always go into a shoot with a very methodical and clear idea of what I’m going to do, whereas with Jack, it was much looser because I don’t even think he knows what he’s getting on the day. I love his world, it’s so surrealist. We wanted the shoot to look really timeless and you can’t quite place it, it could have been shot in the 1920s, but it also feels so modern. We were shooting and all of a sudden he started projecting my make-up palettes onto the model. I didn’t know Jack had taken a picture of them when I was doing the make-up and it was genius and that’s what made the cover. It’s not technically make-up, but it’s showing my practice as a make-up artist and it’s nice that Jack brought it into the shoot so elegantly.” 

Lucy Bridge Colour Mode is published by Thames & Hudson and out now