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Self-taught and fierce, Vincentian Kirk Cambridge-Del Pesche has made a successful career in cosmetology with confidence and determination, learning from every experience, individual he met or failure.
He has worked on numerous Broadway and off-Broadway shows, TV shows, operas, ballets, symphonies, global premieres, tours, with fashion designers, magazines, music videos, celebrities and more around the world.
And he is the make-up designer for Tobago Fashion Coda 7, dubbed The Gala, at the Magdalena Grand Beach and Golf Resort, Lowlands. However, the event, which was originally scheduled for April 18, has been postponed to a date after the general election, said a media release dated April 14, from the organiser DG Events.
Cambridge-Del Pesche said many people relied on official certifications but he believed it was more important to learn from life and with practice.
“I've done all of this stuff and so my education in make-up is a collection of all of the things that I learned. Coming from a business family my approach to everything is that I do everything with a business mindset. I think about the way you approach people, the way you speak to people, the way you communicate, the way you gesture, the way you treat your staff – all of those things come from my family upbringing.
“So when I decided I was going to be a make-up artist, I went to workshops and I looked up every piece of information about make-up – where it started, what was the ingredients in the first make- up, why and how it was used, and how make-up has developed through the centuries.
“I still do it to this day because education is so important, learning who you are and what you do, and if you decide to do a thing, be the best at that thing.”
[caption id="attachment_1149879" align="alignnone" width="683"] Actress and singer Patina Miller had her make-up done by Kirk Cambridge-Del Pesche for the opening of Into the Woods in Los Angeles. Photo courtesy Kirk Cambridge-Del Pesche. -[/caption]
Based in New York, USA, Cambridge-Del Pesche explained a make-up designer designed the look for a client or production while a make-up artists skilfully applied the product, just as a costume designer would design an outfit while a seamstress or tailor would sew the clothes.
Explaining his process with productions, he said he usually spoke to the head of the production to determine the look they were hoping for, whether it was sultry or dramatic, a matriarch, and in the context of era, social background or other elements.
He then talked to the costume designers and performers to get their thoughts on how they imagined the character, and then took all three into consideration to design a make-up look specific to the character.
Tobago Fashion Coda 7 will feature seven of the nation’s leading designers including Claudia Pegus, Neha Karina, Zadd and Eastman, Charu Lochan Dass, Ecliff Elie, up and coming Tobago-born designer Daniel Clarke of the brand Fluorescent Black, and Euphoric Designs.
He took into consideration the ideas of creative director Richard Young and checked out the venue before creating a face chart, inspired by the location and the ocean, and called his friend Jamaican model Jaunel McKenzie to try the make-up look.
He sent it to the Coda creative team as well as the creative team at Revlon, which is sponsoring an exclusive free masterclass with Cambridge-Del Pesche at the Magdalena, and they both loved it.
He said because there were several fashion designers with different styles at the show, and there was not a lot of time between each designer’s showings to make changes to the make-up of the models, he created one make-up look that would work for all the styles and worked with the models’ hair and nail designs.
“The overall look, whatever that make-up is going to be, needs to be a cohesive look that goes with all of the designer looks as well as the elements of what the production is trying to give.
“The look is very clean, paying homage to the 1980s supermodel when there wasn’t a ton of highlighter and contour. All of the things that are popular now is not what we’re doing for Tobago Fashion Coda.
“It’s about people looking beautiful and sun-kissed and radiant versus looking like something that they’re not.”
He said the new make-up movement was very cookie-cutter with everyone ending up with the same look. He said his designs, even though events like Coda called for templates, were adjusted to the facial features of each individual model, so the looks were similar, not like a replica.
“I always believe make-up is to beautify and enhance, but the enhancement must not change who you are unless that is the look of the day.
“On a regular person looking beautiful for a special event, I want my client to look in the mirror and see themselves with colour on.”
He’s got the look
Since his family owned several businesses in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) when he was young, Cambridge-Del Pesche, 48, studied accounting and business in secondary school and began working for the country’s audit department.
He recalled, when he was 16, walking down the street one day when a model agent stopped him and asked if he had modelled before because she found he was gorgeous and walked as if he modelled.
Describing his younger self as tall and skinny with a sense of style, he started modelling with Mije Personal Development and Advertising Agency.
[caption id="attachment_1149878" align="alignnone" width="768"] Make-up designer Kirk Cambridge-Del Pesche will be working on Tobago Fashion Coda 7 at the Magdalena Grand Beach and Golf Resort on April 18. Photo courtesy Kirk Cambridge-Del Pesche. -[/caption]
At 17, he started modelling for Mije Mannequins, a partnership between Trinidad-based Mannequins Caribbean and Mije. There, he met Mannequins Caribbean director Richard Young and travelled the region while working for the agency.
He told Newsday he did not like how some of the artists were doing his make-up and Young gave him some lessons. In SVG he used what he learned, doing make-up for local fashion shows, weddings and other events.
At 20, he moved to the US to live with his father in New York. About three days later, he visited a shopping plaza with his older sister and they visited a MAC make-up counter.
“The woman who was helping her was dark-skinned but her foundation was a couple shades lighter, and my sister was like, ‘You can’t help me.’
“I said, ‘Make-up is an individual choice but that doesn’t take away from the fact that she can help you.’
“Well the woman liked my response and after she pulled me aside and asked if I was looking for a job.”
A few days later he carried in his resume, met with the general manager and got a job.
Cambridge-Del Pesche continued to model and, as he climbed the ladder at MAC, he worked at fashion shows. By the time he became a manager he had decided to leave modelling behind and focus on make-up.
One shopper he befriended was a hair and make-up designer from Barbados who was working with the Broadway production of Phantom of the Opera. One day she asked if he wanted to do theatre and invited him behind the scenes of a show.
He found it to be more interesting that the show itself and, after about ten years at MAC, he left the make-up company and started doing theatre.
One day he got a call saying a client was looking for a new make-up artist and his name came up. When he went to the address he was given, the client turned out to be the late actress and singer Eartha Kitt, who he worked with until her passing.
Another time, a hair designer approached him to work on Disney’s High School Musical On Stage, which opened his world to Broadway and various other opportunities.
[caption id="attachment_1149880" align="alignnone" width="768"] American comedian, actor and singer Wayne Brady playing the title role of the Broadway revival of The Wiz with make-up by Kirk Cambridge-Del Pesche. Photo courtesy Kirk Cambridge-Del Pesche. -[/caption]
One of his latest projects was as make-up designer on Broadway’s The Wiz but he worked on numerous productions including Lempicka, The Notebook, JaJa's African Hair Braiding Salon, Camelot, The Piano Lesson, Into The Woods, For Colored Girls, Potus and more.
He worked with several celebrities like Smokey Robinson, Mario Lopez, Destiny Child’s Michelle Williams, Jimmy Fallon, Vanessa Williams and Rosario Dawson, labels such as Gucci, Hermes and Balenciaga, and TV shows including The Oprah Winfrey Show, The View and E Entertainment.
He also worked on several local events as well as with local labels and celebrities, including Radical Designs, Claudia Pegus, TT Fashion Week and O2N Style with Nicole Dyer-Griffith.
 
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