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There are certain things that can make otherwise sane and intelligent women go completely and utterly gaga. Twilight. Sex and the City. The Playboy bunny. Barack Obama. Louis Vuitton. All of these things can turn women - and men for that matter - into something akin to an
obsessive teenager, buying up anything and everything that is branded with their thing of choice.
My thing? Hello Kitty. It is my secret shame, but memorabilia I currently own includes a Hello Kitty comb, coin purse, mouse pad, diary, whiteboard, mints, piggybank, pencil, mug. I want a Hello Kitty Fender guitar, and I once almost bought a Hello Kitty toaster that burns her face on to the bread. I'm a well-read grown woman, yet I get completely sucked in by kittens, the colour pink and Japanese kitsch: combine all three and you have Hello Kitty. Therefore you can imagine my reaction when I found out M.A.C was releasing a collection of Hello Kitty makeup. To paraphrase Gossip Girl's Blair Waldorf: Oh my effing God.
M.A.C is familiar with beauty collaborations, in the past having teamed up with the likes of Dame Edna, French graffiti artist Fafi, Alexander McQueen and Barbie. But this range is different. Love her or hate her, Hello Kitty is a pop-culture phenomenon of mammoth proportions. Her face adorns everything. As well as guitars, toasters, laptops, lawnmowers and guns, there is a Hello Kitty jet, a Hello Kitty maternity hospital and a Hello Kitty restaurant. It's rather surprising then that Sanrio (the company that own the Hello Kitty brand) hadn't already released Hello Kitty makeup. Perhaps they were waiting for the right partner, which they certainly found in M.A.C. Two cult brands joining forces: it's a marketer's recession-reversing dream.
The limited edition makeup collection is far less saccharine and girlish than you might expect from the sweet fat-faced feline. Yes, there is glitter (glitter eyeliner and powder to be exact), and yes, there is lots of pink, but it's all packaged in sophisticated black compacts and the campaign images shot by Nick Knight feature saucy looking models complete with dripping milk and latex hair bows. M.A.C say they wanted to create a collection that was both innocent and mischievous, "more Angelina Jolie than Shirley Temple". Think Hello Kitty, sexed up.
Key pieces from the collection include fake overlapping lashes, bright eye shadow quads and nail lacquers in a blue-pink fuschia, white and an amazing light grey colour. And despite the fact that Hello Kitty doesn't have a mouth (because she speaks from the heart; gross), there are lipsticks, lipglosses and tinted lip conditioners. Special M.A.C Hello Kitty accessories - including a plush doll, mirror compact, makeup bag and a charm bracelet - will also no doubt fly out the door into the arms of Hello Kitty obsessives.
Those fans will have to wait until March 9 to get their hands on the collection, when it will be available from New Zealand M.A.C stores. We expect lines of crazed Hello Kitty fans to be waiting outside that morning (I may be one of them). In the meantime, M.A.C is celebrating the collaboration by giving fans around the world the chance to own a unique piece of Kitty couture. The cosmetics company has asked 30 high-profile designers from around the world to design a one-of-a-kind piece inspired by the Hello Kitty collection, all of which are being auctioned off on Ebay. Designers involved include Zac Posen, Marchesa, Zimmermann, Giles, Herve Leger, Charlotte Ronson, Emanuel Ungaro, hip New York label Opening Ceremony and our very own Kate Sylvester.
"Hello Kitty is just such a great character... I'm surrounded by girls at work who are Hello Kitty obsessed, with stickers and pencil cases, so it was perfect," says Sylvester. Her piece is a variation of garments from her new winter Black Swan collection (in-store from Friday!), and features an amazing tutu style mini dress with layers of silk organza rose petals, worn underneath a faux pony skin fur hooded jacket with pink silk lining and ears. She says the only brief M.A.C gave her was to "create something that the M.A.C-ified Hello Kitty character would wear. They gave us a colour palette to work with - grey, black, pink and white - which worked in perfectly with our new season range."
The one-off pieces were unveiled at a cocktail party and exhibition in New York last week, and bidding is under way now. Proceeds will go towards the museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. If you want to get your hands on a one-of-a-kind Hello Kitty collectors item, visit www.ebay.com/machellokitty and get bidding - the auction closes on February 19.
We're looking forward to seeing someone wearing the Kate Sylvester piece at a fashion party very soon.