Miss Moffitt's Makeup

There is certainly no doubt that in the 1960's Peggy Moffitt had amongst the most unique and skillful styles of makeup in the fashion world. With thick false lashes, highly complex designs painted around her eyes and a strong inspiration from the Japanese Kabuki stylizations in theatre, she made up her face not merely to emphasize her beauty, but to literally transform it into an artwork in its own right.

Below is an exert from an article published in Glamour Magazine in February 1968, describing the process Miss Moffitt would go through on a daily basis to create her signature style. Images were photographed by Edward Oleksak.

“That’s not a blow-up of a Kabuki star making up at the left, it’s Peggy Moffitt, top model of the famous American designer Rudi Gernreich - she shared the cover of Time with him a few months back. We photographed her makeup - not for you to imitate unless you’re the most fearless girl on the block; the point is to show the daring maquillage that some great models use to set themselves apart from the sheep. Peggy is an innovator, a perfectionist who has been known to concentrate so hard on the one particular step she’s performing, left, that she has fainted. You see here what she does every morning before going to work. 1. With a pad soaked in beer she wets her hair all over to give it more body. 2. Smooths a foundation stick on all over her face, even eyelids and mouth, down her neck, front and back. 3. She sponges off any excess foundation on eyelids and mouth. 4. With a well-sharpened red lipliner, she strokes lines on her eyelids; then dots bright yellow grease stick on with her fingers. She blends the yellow and red with a dry brush. 5. With black eyebrow pencil, she draws a perfect arc from the corners of her eyes rising about 1/8” over the natural eye crease.6. Next she applies rouge so that it makes a definite filled-in color area that angles down from her eyeshadow to the hairline at about cheekbone level and then angles down diagonally to her nostrils. 7. She emphasizes the middle of her lips with red pencil. 8. She dips her powder puff generously into her lose powder, then flicks it in the palm of her hand to remove any excess. 9. After completely covering her damp hair with a shower cap, she pats on the powder. 10. She removes any powder on or between (Continued on page 140)”

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