Customer Reviews

Paul Starr On Beauty: Conversations with Thirty Celebrated Women

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What an amazing collection of beautiful photographs! Some of the best I have seen, and all in one book... just fantastic. The makeup is stunning, the interviews are original and very enjoyable, and the how-to section features great, achievable looks for any woman (the Bardot is my favorite). I may be biased, since many of the book's featured women are among my favorite celebrities, but I think anyone who loves makeup, photography, or celebs will love this book!

The lustrous photographs of 30 glamorous women are accompanied by short but rich interviews in which Starr obtains revelations about internal and external beauty, aging, exercize and diet, family, vices, flaws, and much more. The exquisite photos, shimmering pages, and trenchant text are laid out in an inviting format that makes you feel instantly joyful (if not beautiful) just browsing through them over and over. A perfect tonic for a down day.

If you have read the Scavullo books from the 70s and are hoping for something similar then you'll be disappointed. The subjects "interviewed" say very little of interest and their responses are vacuous and lacking insight. Having said that Joni Mitchell and Pam Grier are notable exceptions. You will learn nothing that will inspire your own beauty, make-up or health regimes, nor will you learn anything of interest from the celebs themselves. It can be summarised by "I use, like moisturising stuff and (giggle) when i want to look good I use Paul Starr as my, like make-up artist, you know..." (Not a quote but you get the idea of what the subjects say.
This book shows that the celebs of the 21st Century are really the creation of publicists, companies and make-up artists like the obviously talented Mr Starr. The women of the Scavullo book (Bianca Jagger, Liza Minneli etc) were wise, witty women with broader world views than just cleansing and moisturising.
I think you'll enjoy this book if you are very young, have not paid for it and prefer looking at beautiful photos rather than reading. I have re-read the Scavullo book many times over the years, with this book I donated it to a charity book fair the day after it arrived.