But if it were not for twitter I wouldn't have been alerted by Lena to something I at first dismissed out of hand as ridiculous.
I got the promo for this in my inbox but I get so much Illamasqua spam I didn't bother to open it.
HOWEVER.....Illamasqua are now tied in professionally with an undertaker's business to do funeral cosmetology. NOT something I'd ever thought much about. I have now!
I've never seen a dead person. Not as far as I know. Certainly not reposing in their coffin! Do the British do that open coffin thing? I believe it's much more common in the US but I have no clue as to the customs surrounding funerals worldwide. Please enlighten me.
So I was hugely derisive at first. Make-up when you're dead! No, no, no. Once I googled it I realised how run-of-the-mill it is in the US. I just can't see 'funeral cosmetician' as a prime career option somehow. I know I've limited vision. Who am I to make mock...
What d'you reckon to a bit of slap in such circumstances? Consoling to the bereaved? A sign of respect? Look your best at all times? Somewhat superfluous?
I think my current position is that it perhaps detracts from the gravity of the event. Cosmetics are very much a part of life. Cosmetics (delightful as they are) are transient and of the world whilst death is perhaps the time to think on higher things.
Jenni
PS A very good initiative commercially by Illamasqua, I think. Suits their image and marketing strategies. Innovative. Bold.
What a beautiful image, it's stunning.
ReplyDeleteIt's a Black Country tradition to have the coffin spend the night at home with the lid propped open for everyone to view the body but something I've always declined.
A teenage lad drowned on the beach in Goa last year and after his body was recovered it was left on the beach whilst all the locals came down and took pictures. Indians really do see death differently to Westerners. x
I think it is more to make the body look normal than particularly spackled - I imagine the grey skin/blue lips look is a tad unnerving...
ReplyDeleteWhat Sarah said--not to glam up the corpse but rather keep it from horrifying people any more than having a dead body on display already does. My immediate family leans toward the cremation followed by memorial service school of thought so we haven't had many open caskets, but they are pretty commonplace. Odd to go to visitation to support friends and see their parent for the first time, dead and laid out as if sleeping in their Sunday best.
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