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| L-R Tatyana Ali,Lauren Velez, Melissa De Souza, Judy Reyes. Essence Magazine Oct. 2011 Photo by Derek Blanks, Makeup Luis Casco |
I think most people forget that Latinas come in every shade (yes blondes and even black!) but that overall we are all united by an amazing sense of pride in our cultures. These ladies all talked to me about how they are finding it easier for Hollywood to identify them as "Latinas" while they used to assume they were black. If you hear Lauren or Judy speak Spanish- you would never doubt it!
As far as beauty routine goes, these ladies stayed true to the Latina spirit of loving makeup! They loved me using MAC's bright pigments on their eyes, asked for lipstick changes after they changed outfits (usually asking for a little more color!) and LOVED their false lashes and TONS of mascara!!!
I applaud them for their spirit and know that they had maybe a little something to do with the success of their contemporaries like Rosario Dawson and Zoe Saldaña!!!
I leave you here with a song we heard that day a couple of times! Lauren Velez' performing as "La Lupe":
3 comments:
You are amazing Luis! If you ever want an assistant if you are shooting in Florida I'm your girl!!!
I saw the magazine and you did a wonderful job on the ladies.
You should know however that they ARE black! Black and Latino are not mutually exclusive. You said in your blog that people assume they are black... no one is assuming. They are clearly beautiful, black women. Black is the race, latino is only a culture.
To help you understand consider this - both a Japanese person and a Chinese person are Asian. They speak totally different languages, eat different foods and have distinctly different cultures but they understand that they are still waayyy more similar then they are different. You will never hear a Japanese person saying crazy shit like Oh no I'm not Asian, I'm Japanese. WTF lol.
That is why, to be frank, white Hollywood has no respect for an actress who is clearly black who then tries to assert that she is Latino or Spanish. It's laughable, because then Hollywood executives know this person is delusional and insecure, hence they feel it is easy to take advantage of them.
Zoe Saldana is as successful as she is because she goes on record to say that she is a black woman (google it)! Hollywood execs know then that they can't easily mess with someone who is as stable and level headed as that.
Great article, maybe next time you can also add actresses such as: Muriel Ricard, Evelyn Jimenez, Yorada Mejia, Indira Serrano, Carmen Marina Torres, just to name a few? Thanks and keep up the good work.
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