Meet Ashley Longshore, the bold and effervescent artist – who loves rap, huge diamonds and Christmas trees – behind the visuals in Cle de Peau Beaute’s 1920s-inspired holiday collection. JACLYN GUNASILAN reports from Shanghai
Meet Ashley Longshore, the bold and effervescent artist – who loves rap, huge diamonds and Christmas trees – behind the visuals in Cle de Peau Beaute’s 1920s-inspired holiday collection. JACLYN GUNASILAN reports from Shanghai
There’s a lot going on behind luxury Japanese beauty brand Cle de Peau Beaute’s Holiday collection, Les Annees Folles (“the roaring ’20s” in French). Conceived by the brand’s creative makeup director Lucia Pieroni, and inspired by the flapper era and art deco artist Tamara de Lempicka, the collection is definitely a sight to behold. The brand chose Louisiana-based pop artist Ashley Longshore – known for her vivid, bold and whimsical artwork – to bring the packaging of the collection to life. Ashley, who is often compared to Andy Warhol (The New York Times once referred to her as “Andrea Warhol”), references pop culture for her colourful creations – celebrities and iconic figures such as Audrey Hepburn, Frida Kahlo and Wonder Woman are regular fixtures in her paintings. The unapologetically vivacious 41-year-old counts celebrity Blake Lively as a fan, and sells a fair amount of her work via her Instagram account (@ashleylongshoreart). Each piece goes for about US$30,000 (roughly S$41,000). With the bold and fearless women of the 1920s in mind, Ashley produced four paintings with beautiful women, hummingbirds, flowers and peacocks for the Les Annees Folles collection. These were then transformed into motifs that adorn the packaging of the capsule collection and a limited edition of the brand’s much-loved La Creme moisturiser. I spend a few minutes with Ashley to find out what makes her tick, and what her future projects entail...
HER PERSONAL STYLE...
“I like fun, statement pieces. I feel like I’m turning into my paintings and that’s a fun place for me to be at. I particularly love American fashion designer Norman Ambrose (known for making couture pieces from dyed fur), [Gucci’s Alessandro Michele], Linda Farrow glasses and Stella McCartney boyfriend jeans. What I love right now about fashion is that there are so many moments that aren’t pretentious. I love anything that’s a bit outrageous.”
HER NEXT ART PROJECT...
“I’m collecting [and compiling] selfies from all over the world. For me, taking an image that you feel confident about and putting it out there isn’t about being vain, it’s about loving how you feel about yourself. In this project, I really want to radiate this energy. Just smiling, radiant, confident faces.”
ON HER SPOTIFY PLAYLIST...
“Quincy Jones, A$AP Rocky, Beyonce, Kanye, Feist, Rihanna and Drake. When my team hears me listening to Kanye, they know they’re going to have a busy day. But it really depends on what I’m painting – if I’m painting Audrey Hepburn or Frida Kahlo, I might listen to more ‘feminine’ music, and when I’m working on my wild pop-art or fashion pieces, it’ll be straight up Kanye and Jay-Z.”
HER FAVOURITE HOLIDAY MOMENT...
“My family gets together for the holidays at our lake house in the US. There’s a fireplace, and my dad cooks quail and we drink wine, get crazy and sing carols. I love Christmas trees – I put up five in my home. I love that over-the-top, magical feeling.”
HER MAKEUP MUST-HAVES...
“I have more tubes of lip gloss and lipstick than anybody on the planet. I don’t wear a lot of eyeshadow, but I live and die by concealers, eyebrow pencils, red lipstick and lip glosses.”
SHE’D LOVE TO TAKE ON...
“A jewellery line! I design my own at the moment, but it’s not for sale. But I’d need an investor because I want big diamonds for my pieces. I follow a lot of diamond dealers on Instagram and do lots of paintings of diamonds.”
