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 dir
