By Andrea Plaid
Via chaudmag.com
I’ve always given side-eye to Fashion Fair Cosmetics ever since I started wearing make-up. To be a part of the Johnson Publication empire–the people who bring us Ebony (and its online equivalent) and Jet–their make-up was not only too rich for my wallet but never quite fit my skin tone. (You’d think, of allllll the companies, Fashion Fair would have a shade that fit the full spectrum of Black folks and well, right?) And, to be honest, the brand itself made me think of its relevance to my mom’s generation–the fresh-off-the Movement, up-the-corporate-ladder Baby Boomers–not mine.
Of course, it would be award-winning director Ava DuVernay who would make Fashion Fair relevent to my mom, me, and younger generations.
If you remember, DuVernay’s master class in ad-making, The Door, makes you forget that you’re really watching a Miu Miu commercial. And DuVernay–perhaps giving a nod to dream hampton’s damn-I-wish-I-was-there Brooklyn homegurl party vid, “QueenS” by TheeSatisfaction–makes you forget that she just put another ad into our pop-culture cosmos about cosmetics and get us into the celebration of the intergenerational linking of family and friends through love, all in lush colors and shades and hairdos and (once again!) amazing soundtrack. All of the Don Drapers need to bow down before her marketing genius.
Enjoy the short, and enjoy your weekend!
DuVernay | SAY YES from @AFFRM on Vimeo.
