Makeup Maven Sam Fine Puts on Shoes

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Events; Published on Tuesday, 23 February 2010 14:18; Written by Frank Lovece

Renowned makeup artist Sam Fine, whose celebrity clients Tyra Banks, Halle Berry, Naomi Campbell, Patti Labelle, Vanessa L. Williams and others testify to his being a leading light among women of color, is at the pinnacle of his profession. Once at a pinnacle, of course, one wants to start expanding boundaries.

That's the idea behind the Chicago native's newly launched collaboration with the Brazilian footwear company Cavage: Who better, the reasoning goes, to predict and pick shoe colors that will match makeup trends for the coming Fall/Winter 2010 fashion season?

Fine's "Sunshine" line of Cavage flats debuted last night at DEX New York, on West 30th Street in the fashion district. The multifaceted makeup/photography/hair studio served as the setting for Fine and Cavage's introduction of a stylish line, with an equally multifaceted, multihued and multilingual multitude of fashionistas and industry professionals in attendance.

The distinctive touches at the event were:

• A startlingly realistic trompe l'oeil of a cake by the art-pastry firm Cakes by Manny

• Two boutique brands of drink — the Louisville, Ky.-based Rhythm Liqueur, a 70 proof citrus liquor infused with caffeine, ginseng, taurine, damiana and B vitamins; and Izze, a fruit juice concentrate-sweetened soda that originated in Boulder, Colo, in 2002, and successful enough to have been purchased for a reported $75 million from PepsiCo in 2006

Fine, whose work has appeared on the covers and pages of Cosmopolitan, Harper's Bazaar, Essence, Vibe and Marie Claire and was chosen as the first African-American spokesperson for Revlon and Covergirl Cosmetics, mingled with the crowd and spoke with the press.

Following the photos below, watch an exclusive video of Sam Fine answering questions on fashion trends for fall.

Photos and videos by: Frank Lovece
Interviewer: Maitland McDonagh