Mouth for L'Oréal

Mouth for L'Oréal (1986) by Irving Penn

Mouth for L’Oréal is a photograph of lips smeared with many shades and colors of make-up. Composition wise, it is an extreme close up of lips and shows no background. The face is powered with neutral colored foundtation to make it as pale as possible. This is in Irving Penn’s typical minimalist style. The white face helps draw attention to the lips, rather then any facial features. The ad is for makeup, so it is interesting that it shows different shades of lipstick all in one photo.

This is a very contemporary ad. It was created in 1986, but I feel it would draw attention even in this day and age. The lips are pronounced, as models lips typically should be. The ad is pretty straightforward in what it is advertising – lipstick. It is unexpected; the use of almost eight colors, but works very well and attractions notice. There is no soft or hard edges, there is simply focus on the lips. 

The composition, coloring, everything was done very intentionally, and it shows. 

This photograph is different from Penn’s earlier glamour & fashion portraits but still compliments his portfolio. It is different because there is a splash of color, where as his previous works were completely black and white, or the covers of Vogue that he shot were completely in color. This picture is a mixing of the two. One thing that is similar to his style is the white “background” which in this case is the model’s face; the background is not pure white but rather flesh toned down. 

I could have chosen a typical fashion photo of Penn's, but I felt this was more eye catching and intriguing to the viewer; this certainly caught my attention most of out his body of work.