Celebrity Makeup Artist Carmon Springs Dies
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Private funeral services for the celebrity makeup artist Carmon Veronica Springs will be held on Thursday at the Inglewood Park Grace Chapel in Los Angeles.
Springs, 70, died on June 18 at her home in Bahia, Brazil, after suffering a fall following a series of illnesses, according to her friend Ty-Ron Mayes, a celebrity stylist and editor of The Untitled Magazine. The formal announcement of her death had not been made earlier due to an autopsy and the logistics of repatriation of her body to the U.S.
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The Wisconsin-born Springs spent most of her childhood in Los Angeles, where she also embarked on her self-taught career. An artist at heart and a prodigious reader, Springs got her start after being introduced to and then mentored by the makeup artist Fran Cooper, who has worked with top-tier talent like Diana Ross, Shakira, Janet Jackson and the late Tina Turner. Despite that roster, Cooper was not as widely known as peers like the late Kevyn Aucoin.
The multilingual and arts-loving Springs would go on to have her own celebrity-studded career that spanned more than 40 years in the fashion and beauty industry. As for what contributed to Springs’ talent, Mayes said Friday, “It was God-given. She had something that you could not capture in a school. Her ability to knock out a book was incredible. She also had a sharp eye and an ear for details, including the nuances and roots of languages and how they link from one to another.”
Springs was enthralled by the movies of the ’50s while growing up. She later translated some of the elegance and beauty from that time into her work as a celebrity makeup artist. Film and music were recurring points of reference for her work, whether that be the 1969 flick “Sweet Charity” or the ultra-star power of Diana Ross and The Supremes. That love for Ross and her group stemmed from “what they meant to the Black community” and to Springs, as a girl. So much so that when Springs had a chance encounter with Mary Wilson walking down Broadway in New York City years ago, Springs burst into tears after being introduced to the late singer, according to Mayes, who was with Springs on that afternoon.
However at-home she was in L.A., Springs ventured overseas for seven years to live in Germany, Paris and Milan in the ’80s. There she didn’t just put her English, Italian, French, German and Portuguese to the test, but she also continued as a celebrity makeup artist and trained hairdresser. That led to shoots with photographers like Gilles Bensimon, Francesco Scavullo, Patrick Demarchelier, Tom Clayton, Udo Spreitzenbarth and her former companion, Frank Otten. By the ’90s, Springs returned to the U.S. and lived in New York, which is where she first met Mayes, during a cover shoot with Tyra Banks.
Springs’ artistic style was seen on a roster of big-name supermodels, musicians and celebrated entertainers including Angelina Jolie, Aretha Franklin, Naomi Campbell, Isabella Rossellini, Alicia Keys, Beyoncé Knowles, Celine Dion, Angie Stone, Julie Anderson, Carmen del’Orifice, Shalom Harlow, Stephanie Seymour, Karen Mulder, Elaine Irwin, Guinevere Van Seenus, Oluchi and others.
Although Springs was a makeup artist by trade, she considered herself an artist, and often drew upon her impressive paintings that she had done and techniques like trompe l’oeil for applying makeup. The aim was to create a depth of field with luminescence and shadowing, all of which were second nature to her. Rembrandt, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Pablo Picasso were touchstones.
When applying her painting skills to makeup styling for celebrities, their faces would appear to be more sculpted with defined cheekbones and more refined noses, said Mayes, whom Springs mentored. Some of her defining looks were a ’60s-inspired razor sharp eyeliner on Beyoncé, mosaic gold leaf lip appliqués for Franklin, diamond-like accents for Keys’ eyes, a pouty lip and doe eyes for Banks, and platinum-coated makeup for Dion.
Through the years Springs could periodically be found backstage at runway shows for designer houses like Chanel during its Karl Lagerfeld years. She also logged many hours working on catalogues for Saks Fifth Avenue as well as its rival Bloomingdale’s, and on campaigns for Dark & Lovely hair care. In the pre-YouTube makeup tutorials era, the finished products of her skill set could be found in fashion magazines’ layouts and beauty shoots. At times her work appeared on the visages of cover models on Harper’s Bazaar, L’Officiel, Essence and Elle, among other publications.
Her hands-on approach didn’t end with work. The always-tinkering Springs crafted jewelry and tended to flower beds as a horticulturist. Part of the impetus for Springs’ move to Bahia, Brazil about 17 years ago was the area’s lush greenery. But even in retirement, she kept a foothold in Los Angeles. More than anything Springs “wanted people to know that she lived life her own way,” Mayes said.
Mayes recalled how she once chatted with “Ally McBeal” actress Lisa Nicole Carson, momentarily convinced that they had worked together. “That fantasy world and reality was all blended into one fantastical thought for her. We cracked up and bonded with this actress, who didn’t know us from Adam. But she understood that she must have done her job, because in Carmon’s head she was a friend. That was Carmon’s spirit — just full of love. And she loved all things beautiful.”
Springs is survived by her mother Anna Louisa, and her siblings Pamela Maxton, Darlene Springs-Dylan, and Helena Hamilton. As requested, the music of Diana Ross will be played at Springs’ funeral, which will be followed by her interment at Inglewood Park Cemetery.
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