In honour of her first collection for Chanel, Le Rouge Collection N°1, we revisit the renowned make-up artist's exploration of her favourite book
“‘Home is everything. Home is not sex but also about it. Home is not a delicious meal but also about it. Home is not a lighted bedroom but also about it. Home is not a hot bath in the winter but is also about it.’ This quote from Xiaolu Guo’s A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers means a lot to me. It tells the story of a young Chinese woman in London speaking only broken English. As time goes by, she learns the language and gets into a relationship with a much older man only to discover that, in the process, she is losing her identity. I have always felt a little bit like her: when I first came to London, my biggest fear was being talked to. I couldn’t understand a thing! I had to let go of a part of me to adapt. When I go back to Naples, I notice how much I have changed. Then I become my old self again. It’s inevitable but I guess identity is always morphing.”
At 23, Lucia Pica left Naples for London, where she started working as a make-up artist, first at Charlotte Tilbury, then going freelance in 2008. She has since created the show make-up for House of Holland and Peter Pilotto, worked on Armani and Dolce & Gabbana campaigns and collaborated with photographer Alasdair McLellan. She is known for her fearless use of colour – a flick through her Instagram reveals a liking for bold eye shadow tones and acid lipstick hues. In 2014, she was appointed Global Creative Make-up and Colour Designer for Chanel, and has focused her talent on strong colour statements for make-up and on creative and trend-setting stories for the brand’s seasonal collections.
This article originally appeared in the S/S15 edition of AnOther Magazine.
