In the classic musical Meet Me in St. Louis, Judy Garland and her large extended family worry that they’ll have to move from St. Louis to New York right before the 1904 World’s Fair. (Hashtag, Old Movie White People Problems.) Near the climax, child actress Margaret O’Brian, playing Judy’s little sister, has a breakdown, crying that she doesn’t want to move to New York as she destroys her beloved snowmen that look so fake they could only come from an Californian soundstage. I watch this movie once a year.
In real life, not everyone from St. Louis dreads the pilgrimage to the Big Apple. Before becoming a successful makeup artist and Director of Global Artistry for NARS Cosmetics, James Boehmer made the journey east in 2003. Always artistic and beholden to pop culture, Boehmer had studied fine art and dance in college, and came to makeup through performance.
“I realized that the whole backstage aspect to that world I found really interesting and compelling, so it just kind of happened by accident,” he says. He took a few makeup classes out of personal interest, admitting “I never really thought about it as a career.”
Before New York, he was working mostly in theatre and film. Although the work was hard and the hours long, Boehmer loved the intense teamwork, how everyone worked tirelessly for the same goals. “I’m a big fan of that collaborative energy,” he says. “I think that’s where the best work, the work that you’re most proud of, comes from.”
He met Ayako, a makeup artist who worked for the legendary Francois Nars. After his move to New York, he began assisting her on shoots and making a name for himself. In a classic backstage musical turn of events, Ayako was unable to do the makeup for one of the cameos in a Jay-Z video. Boehmer was asked to fill in. It was Naomi Campbell.
“I was a teenager during that supermodel moment in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s,” he explains. “Working on Naomi was incredible. You have those sort of ‘whoa’ moments throughout your career–‘Wow, I’m a kid from St. Louis, Missouri, working on Naomi Campbell!’”
Although his work with NARS means he’s now mostly involved in the fashion industry (his work has appeared in countless magazines and runway shows), he’s never lost his interest in theatrics. He’s a member of The Citizens Band, a group of performers, musicians, models, and acrobats who stage political-themed cabarets inspired by the Weimar Republic.
“From a makeup artist point of view, it’s great to be able to do the 1920’s fantastical stage makeup–lots of glitter and sequins, and rhinestones, and feathers.”
Describing his interest in the interwar era, you can tell that Boehmer’s heart still lays in the world of dressing up and make believe.
“I’ve always loved that Weimar Berlin, ‘silent film star of the twenties’ aesthetic. It’s so glamorous and there’s a decadence to it that the other eras don’t have…with the birth of makeup, and the birth of the vamp, and the birth of women having a little bit more power than they did before. There’s a lot of feminine power behind the group, which is interesting to be a part of.”
Makeup artists, whether working in fashion, film, or theatre, are unsung heroes–rarely seen or celebrated, but their handy work is everywhere. While many have a strong artistic point of view, Boehmer underlines that as a makeup artist, it’s not about you.
“I think that young artists, maybe just starting out in the industry, don’t always have the patience. They don’t always have the humility.” Just like backstage in college, Boehmer says it’s still all about collaboration, working with stylists, models, hair stylists, and photographers to translate a vision. “Our job as the makeup artist is to add the next element to the story.”
I ask him if he has any other parting advice to makeup artists just starting out in the business.
“Number one, you have to have passion for it. It’s such a passionate job and a passionate role, if you don’t have that passion and that fire and that love for it, it’s not going to get you very far.” He goes on to say that you have to keep your eyes open to inspirations and cultural references all the time. “If someone is talking about a specific actress from France in the thirties, you should know who that is…You can never know too much about stuff like that.”
He laughs. “You have to love touching people. It sounds sort of silly when you say it like that, but it’s such an intimate exchange of energy when you’re acting as a makeup artist. You need to always remember that.”
Talented and hopeful young man leaves the Midwest to make it in the glamorous big city? Not just in the movies, after all.
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Max Mosher writes about style for Toronto Standard. You can follow him on Twitter at @max_mosher_.
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