KEVYN AUCOIN, American cosmetologist born (d. 2002); a make-up artist and photographer who was well known for catering to the laywoman’s need to feel beautiful. He worked with hundreds of A-list celebrities like Cher, Janet Jackson, Tina Turner, Gwyneth Paltrow, Courtney Love and Vanessa Williams.

He became a highly in-demand makeup artist, often acquiring $10,000 per session for photo shoots or award shows. As a published author (The Art of Makeup, Making Faces, and Face Forward), he was fond of taking celebrities (and various other men & women, including his mother) and using makeup and costume (and sometimes prosthetics) to make them look like other celebrities, or like other people entirely. He transformed Tori Amos into Mary Queen of Scots, Liza Minnelli into Marilyn Monroe, Christina Ricci into Edith Piaf, Hilary Swank into Raquel Welch, Winona Ryder into Elizabeth Taylor and Martha Stewart into into Veronica Lake, among others.

Aucoin lived with his partner, Jeremy Antunes, whom he married in an unofficial ceremony in Hawaii in 2000 and thereafter referred to as his husband. He had also previously been romantically involved with Eric Sakas, who after their breakup remained close friends with him and became president and creative director of Kevyn Aucoin Beauty.