Recently, Karl Lagerfeld tweeted to the general public, “Fashion is not only about clothes…it’s about change.” As of summer 2012, Lagerfeld’s version of change will now not only include his upcoming Paris 2012-2013 collection; he will also be involved in a new cosmetic project as well.
This past June, Karl Lagerfeld confirmed his cosmetic collaboration with Japanese make-up artist, Shu Uemura for a new make-up collection. The make-up collection, titled, Mon Shu, will consist of seventeen unique beauty tools and make-up pieces. After being a client of Uemura’s for the past twenty years and using his unique eye shadows exclusively for fashion illustration purposes, Lagerfeld and Uemura began the creation of their brainchild make-up collection.
Upon the announcement of his collaboration with Uemura, Lagerfeld admitted to the followers of his Twitter, “I wanted to invent my personal version of a Japanese manga.” The “Japanese manga” Lagerfeld is referring to is the title character of Mon Shu, a dark-haired, red-eyed cartoon character drawn by Lagerfeld himself and is the mascot representing the collection. However, Mon Shu’s sketch was not one of Lagerfeld’s newest illustrations; after presenting his sketchbook, Lagerfeld and Uemura found the early sketches of a Japanese-inspired cartoon.The origin of Mon Shu’s name is a reference to the French phrase, “mon chou”, often used as a term of endearment.
As part of their marketing campaign, Lagerfeld and Uemura released a teaser trailer of Mon Shu herself presenting her back story as well as what will be included in the new make-up collection. Entitled “Mon Shu Girl Birth Story”, the teaser trailer was released online by Vogue on July 16th, though Lagerfeld admitted that the actual release of the collection will be made available during the “2012 holidays”.
According to Lagerfeld and Uemura, the Mon Shu collection will consist of eyeliner, lipstick, nail polishes, blush, false eyelashes, eye shadow, and Lagerfeld’s take on Uemura’s eyelash curler. The included eye make-up, lipstick, and nail polish will be available in various colors—including purple gel eyeliner. In addition, a make-up box with Mon Shu herself will be included in the collection.
The official release of Lagerfeld and Uemura’s Mon Shu collection will be released internationally in stores as of November of 2012.
