MIWA YOKOYAMA

PEOPLEText: Michiko Ikeda

Saturday night got pretty cheerful – lively in Sapporo’s Soso Cafe! No wonder when a mass of young and beautiful ladies get together with a trendy team of make-up artists eager to style for free!

The featured artist of April’s “Dot Soso #14” event was make-up artist Miwa Yokoyama, and she presented the “Thanksgiving Makeup”. She is a prize-winner of the Los Angeles Competition of ICE (International Cosmetology Expo) in 2001. She also hosted the fashion & make-up show “Continuous Beauty” in 2002. She is working as a hair & make-up artist for the “Style” project at Tokachi Contemporary Art Exhibition “Demeter“. The Thanks Giving MakeUp was accompanied by the Sapporo-based graphic-team “Mogra” which was another highlight to not miss.

What interested me most about Miwa and her girls was their playfully-touched and unique make-up while adhering to the theme of “Dot”. I had the chance to interview Miwa Yokohama. I asked her some questions I always wanted to ask.

Where does your passion for dots come from?

There is a power emanating from dots. Depending on how you combine different dots the expression changes anew. The result can be anything – cute, cool or even mystic.

How would you describe your make-up style?

My characteristic is using the face as a canvas, like painting a picture. I like to mix colors and the artistic make-up is my favourite, too, as I presented in the Soso Cafe. This kind of make-up is getting more and more interesting to me. I am inspired by fashion a lot as well.

Where did you acquire your make-up skills from?

After graduating high school, I attended the Business school for make-up for 2 years. I studied the basic make-up techniques, make-up for shooting and shows, special make-ups and nail art. The school I attended gave us many chances to gain experience. We had make-ups outside the school as extracurricular lessons. They were quite instructive.

Tell me about Los Angeles. Did you learn anything from the Los Angeles trip especially from the “ICE”? What were your experiences?

ICE (International Cosmetology Expo) is a big beauty fair in Los Angeles and I participated in the “evening classic make-up” section. Other participants were all active make-up artists coming from the USA, Korea, and Europe irrespective of age, sex or position. I recieved the fifth prize in thirty participants, but only to attend “ICE” became an unforgettable experience. The people were all highly openminded and fancy-free, everything was so exciting to me. I thought what a difference to Japanese beauty fairs! Everyone’s style was so bizarre and eccentric, thanks to all of it I got more openminded, too.

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