From Cindy Sherman to Pat McGrath - Masks take many forms within an industry that holds aesthetics to the highest of standards.

James Ensor, Astonishment of the Mask Wouse, 1889, Collection Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp – Flemish Community, © photo: Hugo Maertens, www.artinflanders.be, inv. 2042

It was exactly on my journey from Paris via Eurostar to the homeland of the best of the best—the Antwerp Six and Martin Margiela—that I noticed the presence of my GRWM-obsessed seat neighbor. My excitement was overflowing as I headed to MOMU’s “Masquerade, Make-up & Ensor” exhibit, and I couldn’t help thinking how on brand it was for my trip to start this way. I tried to focus on the window and turn my attention elsewhere—I didn’t want to be a babushka (granny in Russian) peeking into someone else’s business, yet the train had become this lady’s workshop.

First, she concealed herself fervently, then began taking selfies. She wasn’t satisfied, though. She smiled shyly and innocently for the camera, but as soon as it was off, she became more expressive. Then came the GoPro—still not good enough. She didn’t seem happy with the results. This sparked a thought: when did we become so comfortable doing GRWM videos in public spaces? Unconsciously, I began “unmasking” my neighbor. She was just trying to align herself with beauty ideals, gain control over her appearance, and prepare for the camera. I wondered if she realized the deeper implications of her actions. After all, every time we do our makeup and document ourselves, it often goes beyond just taking a selfie.

The rise of celebrity and influencer culture has normalized constant self-documentation. Our self-worth is now quantified in likes, comments, and shares. People mimic this behavior to stay relevant, to belong, and to feel emotionally connected. Looking conventionally beautiful garners more social validation, which can help position oneself in social hierarchies and, for some, bring a sense of contentment.

My reflections were interrupted as I arrived into the gothic-fairytale landscape of Antwerp. I rushed to my hotel and ironically found myself in a situation where I had to do my own GRWM in a public bathroom, as my room wasn’t ready yet. This article will take you on a a GRWM-esque journey, though in written form rather than visual, documenting my experience visiting Momu Antwerp's exhibition "Masquerade, Makeup & Ensor" in which the MoMu celebrates the painters of fashion: The 'craftsmanship and inexhaustible creativity of makeup and hair artists, in a multimedia exhibition in which light, colour, art, fashion and make-up come together."

I began my private guided tour greeted by theater-like green curtain, eerie squealing sounds, and an ethereal introduction to the captivating art of James Ensor. Masking, in it's most traditional sense, means putting a layer over one’s face, but my goal was to peel away traditional meanings and form my own post-modern conclusions.

Image: Issy Wood, “Self portrait 32”, 2022

In the work of the great Belgian surrealist James Ensor, masking was employed as a tool to create theatrical settings where he could express his personal and satirical commentary on his then contemporary society. Ensor was acutely aware of the socio-political masquerade occurring around him, and used his art to expose it reflexively. From 1888 onward, Ensor depicted masks, clothing, and accessories as tools for unmasking rather, revealing the true nature and hidden emotions of the figures he portrayed by painting on reimagined ones.

One of the first paintings that I got a glimpse of in the expo was 'The Astonishment of the Mask Wouse'. The identity of the “Masque Wouse” remains ambiguous. Ensor’s frequent use of the term “masque” could refer either to the character wearing a mask or to the mask itself, the object behind which the person conceals their identity but also becomes the individual themself.

The painting’s details—masks, costumes, and skulls scattered across the floor—suggest that the entire scene could be a theatrical performance or masquerade. A worm-like object hanging from the old lady’s nose is a sharp satirical jab at the figure portrayed.

Historically, physical masks were associated with the joy of transformation and a playful rejection of sameness and conformity. However, starting with the Renaissance, masks lost much of their joyful connection to renewal and instead came to symbolize secrecy, concealment, and deception. In this way, a mask has always walked the line between positive and negative connotations - much like the current obsession of beauty products like Korean face masks, reflected in Issey Wood’s 2022 ‘Self Portrait’ painting. You can feel the gooey drip of the mask as it slides off her stoic face. Her hood hides the back of her head, as a physical representation of consumerist beauty standards waits to be peeled off the front.

The Meaning and History of Make-Up

Applying make-up has long been seen as a form of masking—simultaneously concealing, disguising, and altering one’s natural features. This idea is connected to larger societical conversation, especially how we talk about race. People are now discussing how ideas about whiteness go beyond just skin color. These conversations are reflected in the exhibitions narrative surrounding inclusion within the beauty industry. Makeup continues to be a vehicle through which people, and specifically the fashion industry, experiment with and consistently redefines what's considered aesthetically beautiful.

Make-up may bring one closer to an elusive beauty ideal that blossoms from a fictional means of expression, experimentation, and playfulness. The term “make-up” has roots in storytelling. Its earlier meanings include “a made-up story” or “an invention.” In Italian, the word trucco refers to both the application of cosmetics to enhance one’s appearance and to magic tricks or, in its most negative sense, deceit and fraud. The colloquial term “catfishing” in the context of make-up highlights how individuals can drastically alter their features to align with contemporary beauty ideals, using cosmetics as a tool for transformation. Beyond physical alterations, makeup can also be a form of 'emotional masking,' where individuals consciously or unconsciously suppress or alter their emotional expressions to conform to social expectations or to project a desired image.

Thomas de Kluyver and Harley Weir, Shibuya, in All I Want to Be, 2019, © Photo: Harley Weir, Model: Marimo

Masks and the painters of fashion

Makeup artists utilize masking as a way of challenging norms, telling stories, and pushing the boundaries of beauty and identity.

Thomas de Kluyver, an Australian-born, London-based self-taught make-up artist, is featured in the exhibition as a pillar of color-play on the face. His use of color is uniquely transformative, it empowers the viewer to disregard problematic connotations of a mask and instead celebrates con conformity. Vivid Pigment is a central element in Kluyver's work, evident in his 2019 monograph, 'All I want to be.' This series showcases bodies and minds that resist traditional cultural norms of makeup through the bold use of color. Influenced by traditional Japanese makeup styles, such as those used by geisha and kabuki performers in Kyoto, Kluyver reimagines techniques in his own way. The images recall the make-up styles that Kansai Yamamoto designed for his fashion shows in the 1970s.The Dame Commander of the British Empire, aka THE MOTHER of make-up, Pat McGrath, the creative director of her own brand "Pat McGrath Labs," states that she does not view makeup as a mask to conceal one's true self. Instead, she sees it as a tool to amplify individuality and celebrate the diverse spectrum of beauty. For Dame Pat, makeup offers an opportunity to explore fantasy, identity and emotion.

One of the most magnificent recent fashion spectacles (to call it a fashion show would be an understatement) that went straight to the books of modern-day fashion history, the Maison Margiela Artisanal 2024 collection. Pat created the viral glassy skin look that took the internet by storm. The MoMu expo includes photographs of the many iconically theatrical looks from the show staged under the mysteriously lit bridge Pont Alexandre III in Paris. Pat and her team took three years to develop the porcelain-like skin covering technique. The scientifically-inventive aspect of the technique is that it uses four different masks that target the impurities of the skin and are peeled off afterwards. Unlike many makeup techniques that start from the goal of covering first, Pat's technique addresses bringing forth the skin underneath before covering, solidifying the overall theme that masks are often embedded from within.

This doll (Right), named Rosalie, has lived in Julien d’Ys’ studio in Paris since she first appeared in John Galliano’s 2007-2008 Autumn-Winter show. To pay tribute to their friendship and long-standing artistic collaboration, Galliano invited Rosalie for a couture fitting to dress her in a look from his recent Maison Margiela Artisanal collection.

Julien d’Ys inMasquerade, Make-up & Ensor at MoMu –Fashion Museum Antwerp, 2024, © MoMu Antwerp, Photo: Stany Dederen

After a few steps forward into the depths of the expo, I stumbled upon huge arches, exposing the visual sculptural diaries by Julien d’Ys - a French hairstylist and a reluctant make-up visionary. d'Y's started his career as a hairstylist working on iconic fashion editorials with Grace Coddington and Phyllis Posnick at American Vogue. His work is captured by fashion photographers like Paolo Roversi, Richard Avedon, and Annie Leibovitz. Beyond the printed image, his craft graced the runways shows of Lagerfeld for Chanel, John Galliano, Azzedine Alaïa, and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons. His relationship with Rei Kawakubo in particular pushed his art beyond the top of the head, and onto the face.

The make-up, if not applied directly to the face but to an exterior object, becomes a mask of a mask. And not necessarily the one that is trying to cover one sense of self, but extenuates the self into it's own work of art. The concept was previously explored in the New York’s Costume Institute, Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion, 2009 exhibition where Julien reworked tulle into an installation that re-staged key twentieth-century fashion photographs as tableaux. The piece manifests a real-life recreation of Loomis Dean’s 1957 pictures featuring Dior Haute Couture. Julien drew further inspiration from Irving Penn’s photograph of Lisa Fonssagrives, and empolyed the same make-up concept again for an editorial by Steven Klein for American Vogue featuring Karlie Kloss. This 3D make-up set the tone for character-building, turning the wearer into a figure within a painting.

Inge Grognard make-up for Maison Martin Margiela Autumn-Winter 1996-1997 © Photo: Ronald Stoops

Fascinated by the darker aspects of human nature, Belgian-born makeup artist Inge Grognard challenges conventional beauty norms further by imprinting visual traces on the face that disrupt and resist the pursuit of a perfectly polished look. Her unique perspective stems from close friendships and collaborations with influential figures like Martin Margiela and The Antwerp Six, as well as more recent work with Balenciaga, where she continues to question traditional approaches to beauty.

Instead of focusing on decorative makeup, she often seeks to emphasize the darker, more unconventional aspects of the human face rather than attempting to conceal them. She took inspiration from the work of James Ensor from a young age, naturally fitting into the scope of the exhibition.

Grognard's personal artistic explorations into social and political issues often involve creating masks that point to the inequalities and injustices that resonate with her.

One of her most iconic creations was for Martin Margiela's Autumn/Winter 1996 show. By painting shadow lines on the models' faces, she transformed them into living masks of gathering darkness. This approach, inspired by Monet's painting 'The Beach at Trouville,' involved using spotlit umbrellas to cast dramatic shadows backstage in order to create striking, heart-stopping effect. The final look, with its stark contrasts and exaggerated features, echoed the iconic Harlequin mask of Italian commedia dell'arte, connecting the runway show to a rich tradition of masking.

Cindy Sherman, Untitled #360, 2000, © Cindy Sherman, Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth

It wouldn't be an exhibition rooted in the symbolism of masks without the works of American photographer Cindy Sherman. Known for her provocative and often unsettling imagery, Sherman pushes the boundaries of identity by intensifying stereotypes to the point of the grotesque through her self-portraiture. Through the skillful use of makeup, prosthetics and costume, she critiques the pervasive culture of self-optimization and the pressure to constantly improve one's appearance according to 'industry standards.'

Sherman continually adopts personas, transforming herself into a wide range of characters. Around the turn of the millennium, she created a series of works featuring awkwardly posed, heavily made-up middle-aged women. Employing prosthetic makeup and exaggerated techniques, she satirized contemporary media's obsession with achieving an idealized, often unattainable, appearance. While many of our niche algorithyms are accustomed to images like these in our artistically-driven feeds, even those coined 'mainstream' are adopting the ridiculous within their own online personification - just look at Kim Kardashian's 'Santa Baby' directed by Nadia Lee Cohen. It was Cindy who pioneered this freedom of building a mask as a form of authenticity.

Genieve Figgis, Fashion shoot, 2021, © Courtesy of the artist and Almine Rech. GFI0249

Irish artist Genevie Figgis, renowned for her vibrant colors and macabre imagery, rejects the traditional constraints of subtlety and understatement through her brightly lit colors and textural brush. She embraces the unpredictable, allowing acrylic paint to transform her figures into distorted, grotesque, yet somehow lighthearted masks.

Having never subscribed to the narratives imposed on women by the Catholic Church and patriarchal society, Figgis views life itself as a kind of performance or masquerade. As a counterpoint to the media's often-demeaning portrayals of children, she champions freedom and fantasy, using humor to subvert the prevailing narratives that deem them unworthy.

Figgis rejects the notion of 'normal' as tedious and embraces the joy of defying expectations. Her painted characters, existing in a world free from judgment, come in all shapes and sizes, celebrating individuality and embracing the unconventional.

In Conclusion,

'Masks, Masquerade, Ensor and Make-up' reveals a fascinating interplay between concealment and self-expression. While masks can be powerful tools for creativity, transformation, and social navigation, they also raise important questions about authenticity, identity, and the pressures of conformity. As I got back to my hotel, and wiped the makeup from my face, I wondered if my train companion had succeeded in capturing herself as she wanted. The artistic revelations from within the exhibition gave me hope that the importance of makeup within the fashion industry lies not only in exterior visual world-building, but the drive for improvement from within. The act of presenting our skin everyday whether it's online or IRL can have significant psychological impacts, including feelings of inauthenticity and emotional and physical exhaustion - but it's also a way to playfully examine identity. By holding a mirror up to this exhibition, I'm holding space for crucial conversations surrounding self-awareness, prioritizing self-acceptance, and celebrating genuine expression. The complexities of social interactions and identity-seeking in the digital world will ever be evolving; all we can do is shape our own masks to reveal the hidden talents within ourselves.

Masquerade, Make-up & Ensor - Unmasking Identity at MoMu Antwerp

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Masquerade, Make-up & Ensor - Unmasking Identity at MoMu Antwerp

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