i-D: New Book: Val Garland – Validated
Celebrated make-up artist Val Garland has just published her book Validated. In a new interview with i-D she cites Toyah as one of her early influences.
How val garland became one of fashion’s most requested make-up artists
Her new book, ‘Validated’, charts the make-up mastermind’s 25-year career
Regarded as one of the most important make-up artists of our time, Val Garland has spent the last 25 years creating era-defining images with some of this generation’s greatest creatives. Her boundary-pushing artistry has seen her shoot with photographers such as Nick Knight, Corinne Day and Miles Aldridge and worked for agenda-setting fashion titles, including i-D and The Face. She’s the make-up artist of choice for designers including John Galliano, Gareth Pugh and Phoebe Philo, and spent years working closely with.
Growing up, what were your creative outlets?
Well I think when I was a child, we’d just go and play on the railways. I always had a vivid imagination, so we’d make up some amazing story using sticks and stones and that kind of thing. I was always looking for treasure, but we didn’t have loads of money, so treasure was just things you would find on the street, pebbles and bottle tops and things like that.
When I got older, I got into music. I could get lost in music and musicians and singers became the new icons. It was the 80s, so we’d moved through the punk and it was more about the new romantics and everybody was painting their faces. I loved Toyah Willcox, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Debbie Harry, Lene Lovich. It never occurred to me try to look attractive or like a glamorous, sexual being. I just wanted to be noticed, to be a character. I wanted people to go ‘wow, who is that person in head to toe newspaper with newspaper print all over her face? What is she?’ That’s how I my love of make-up started.
• Continue reading at i-D.
• BBC News: How ’80s club culture came to the catwalk: A new exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum looks at how clubbers’ style in the 1980s transferred to the world of fashion. Was it the point at which the underground went mainstream and is there any equivalent today? (This includes a photo of Toyah’s Melissa Caplan outfit – Thanks to Giddy Gavin) – 
