100 Quotes by Francois Nars

I wanted to be a make up artist. I did it, and the road that I took was quite good.

I photographed Alek Wek. She was amazing, and nobody knew about her then. It was a really strong photograph of her.

I'm not so interested in perfect, plastic beauty, and I think it translates in the girls I've shot over the years for Nars, from Guinevere to Iris to Mariacarla. I love those girls. I love the more interesting faces, with maybe a strange nose, not just the Texan blonde. By picking those girls, I think it's changed what I've seen in other campaigns.

Working on fashion shows, you work with the designer and try to read his brain - what was in the creative process, what images did he have in his head?

Having worked with so many of the geniuses, I'd learned so much. It's the best sort of photography school, to work with people like Penn or Avedon or Meisel.

I was spoiled growing up in the 1970s because magazines were publishing the photographs of Helmut Newton and Guy Bourdin without compromise. You really felt that sense of freedom through their images.

I love to collaborate with artists, like Guy Bourdin and Steven Klein, who don't have any boundaries.

The '80s and '90s were the greatest time to be a makeup artist.

From the start, I used a different kind of girl in Nars campaign images. My choice to use models of colour such as Alek Wek, Naomi Campbell and Karen Park Goude was absolutely a deliberate one. I felt that makeup was universal and should apply to everybody.