HAVING taken the perfume world by storm for more than a decade, founder and creative director of Byredo, Ben Gorham has made his mark with make-up by launching a beauty line last year. The understanding of how people related fragrance with beauty inspired Byredo to create scents that didn’t abide to gender and identity boundaries and instead focused on the individual product.
Taking the same approach, Gorham has collaborated with world-renowned make-up artist Isamaya Ffrench for the new cosmetics collection. The new range focuses on the customer and how they wish to use each product. The freedom in this open approach to beauty sees a collection carefully curated by Ffrench and Gorham that consists of both versatility in product use with the ability to be used on your eyes, lips and cheeks, but also with a colour palette not subjected to anyone specific.
Byredo Prismic Eyeshadow Palette
In true Byredo style, design and quality aim to survive the test of time with the beautiful packaging also seen as objects of desire to be worn and to be kept. The aim is not conforming to the notion of perfection that the beauty industry produces, but rather creating a collection where you decide how to wear it.
With this in mind, Byredo is launching a limited edition Prismic Eyeshadow consisting of 18 colours. Offering a kaleidoscope of colour ranging from punk to pretty; copper-red and feminine lilac to a strong navy and bright yellow. Not presented in the usual way of putting the colours in order of gradient, the disruptive colour scheme was done on purpose to try and provoke experimentation.
Byredo Prismic Eyeshadow Palette Campaign by Roxy Lee
“We want to approach colour as if people are actually going to wear it,” explains Ffrench, “There are so many palettes out there which look great on a shelf, or which are fun and exciting to open, but where you only end up using two shades. We wanted to make a palette that people will actually wear.”
Byredo Prismic Eyeshadow Palette Campaign by Roxy Lee
The campaign, shot by Roxy Lee focused on encapsulating the spirit of radical self-expression. Liberated through recreating looks and exploring make-up in different ways, the photos depict a strong sense of fun and confidence. Gorham finishes with, “There’s not much real in beauty. But Byredo doesn’t conform to a normal beauty ideal.” It is clear that it’s time to have some fun with colour.
by Imogen Clark
Available for £77 from February 4, 2021 on Byredo.com