Computer Engineering Essay. Introduction to Computers: What is a computer - C...
ASSISTANT LKB
1. Hand Model
Lisa Kenny Bass has the fashion world in the palm
of her hand —
gered hands have graced the pages of countless
magazines, billboards, and TV spots in the
golden age of advertising and editorials. She
has worked with legends such as Irving Penn,
donned hundreds-of-thousands’ worth of jewelry
for the camera, doubled as Julia Roberts’ hands
into Brooke Shields’ eyes. All to get the perfect
picture. Age is just a number as they say, but
interviewing people that have been around longer
than oneself is the perspective they give you and
the life lessons that you get from their stories.
Lisa Bass shared beauty tips and fashion stories
with us, but also her thoughts on the important
role of aging women in the beauty industry, the
struggles of a young working mother who had to
choose between work and family, and the value
of keeping oneself busy, curious, and open to
new adventures at any time and age.
Interview - Patricia Yagüe Photography - Brendan Burke Assistant - Boxer
3. L I S A K E N N Y B A S S
Patricia Yagüe: How does one become a hand
model?
Lisa Kenny Bass: I was going to the School of
Visual Arts and was working as a graphic designer
at a publishing company where we designed books.
One book was called Creative Gift-Wrapping and
they needed hands for the how-to shots. So my first
job was with Tony Cenicola and he kept saying
to me, “you could be making so much more money
as a hand model than as a graphic designer.” And
I said, Alright! Great, sounds good! So I built my
portfolio with him, and at one point he gave me
the name of an agent. I was working for a PR firm
at the time, it was my last year of school, and I
was painting, too. This agency called me up and
said “We’ve got five commercials for you next
week, can you do it?” I said, “Yes, let me talk to my
boss.” And I remember going in to see my senior art
director, and he said to me, “Oh Lisa, I think you’re
making a big mistake.” I saw him about a year later
in the street and I said, “I just finished working with
Irving Penn, do you think I made a mistake?”
This world opened up and I had the pri-
vilege of working with these photographers that
I’d learned about in art school, and they were just
incredible. Especially Penn, and Hiro, and Francesco
Scavullo, and Patrick Demarchelier. Unbelievable
photographers. From there I was introduced to the
commercial world and I got to work with amazing
art directors.
P.Y: Did you have to quit your job from one
day to the next?
L.K.B: I quit my job because it was very busy.
Back then we were only maybe 10 women hand
models who were working all the time. I think
probably what opened up the industry even more
was probably that Seinfeld episode when George
Costanza was a hand model. I remember my agent
saying, “Oh I wish that they never aired because
everybody now is calling saying that they could be
a hand model.” It’s very competitive now, and it’s a
huge industry. But there were only maybe five or
six of us at Ford agency, and there may have been
only a handful more at a different agency. It was
wonderful because it was just really quiet. We just
did our work, you get to meet amazing people and
have fun on set. You were a part of creating so-
mething bigger than you. I always felt like I was an
assistant, which is so interesting that this magazine
is called Assistant, because I still feel that way.
P.Y: Why do you feel that way?
L.K.B: Because I was assisting this incredible
image.
P.Y: But don’t you feel a part of it?
L.K.B: It’s not about me; it is about the product
that we were selling. And really, you have to make
that look the absolute best it possibly can. It’s all
about what you’re trying to sell and they give
you a lot of money to do it. You shouldn’t have an
attitude on set, just get in there and make this
thing work.
P.Y: What was it like the first time you worked
with Irving Penn, who you knew so much about?
L.K.B: I was so nervous inside. And I’ll never
forget it; he had the watch on my hand, and his sets
were always very quiet. Thank god Sheryl Bailey
was on set that time and she just calmed everyone’s
nerves. So the watch was on my hand and he was
touching me and moving my fingers perfectly, and
he said to me “So Lisa, how much do you think this
watch is?” And I’m thinking, you better go high.
I said, “I don’t know, maybe $50,000.” He never
looked up, he’s still moving my fingers and he says,
“It’s $350,000. Don’t drop it.” So I had to be very
still, and I’m working with Penn, whom I’d lear-
ned about at school, and he’s touching my fingers,
just moving everything and now I’ve got this very
expensive watch — I mean, there may have been like
three in the world — and oh dear, here we go. It was
great! We had a really nice working relationship.
P.Y: What was your most memorable shoot?
L.K.B: Penn was probably the biggest moment.
There are probably like five or six shoots that we
did together for Vogue. For one of them he was
drawing all these zodiac symbols on my hand.
I feel very blessed to have had Irving Penn paint
on my hands. Not many people can say that. And I
4. 119
remember asking him to sign a book for me, and he
would say, “You better get in here quick because I
don’t know how much longer I’m going to last.” It
was really sweet. I loved him, he was great. It was
also wonderful working with Matthew Rolston;
for L’Oreal, I worked with Tyen from Paris who
was fabulous. And Gary Perweiler was probably
my favorite for commercials.
P.Y: Why?
L.K.B: Because he hired me a lot [laughs]. So that
helped. I love that whole world. The hair and the
makeup, the stylist, and the special effects people,
it was a lot of fun. I remember doing something
for Bounty, that was so hard. It was a cast-iron pot,
and I remember lying down on this plank and this
giant tub of water was beneath me. I had to hit
my mark every time with this cast iron pot, with
the “befores” and “afters”, just scrubbing away to
reveal the Bounty. It’s hard work. A lot of people are
like, “Oh you’re a hand model, pshh.”
P.Y: How many hours do they put into one shot?
L.K.B: I’ve had commercials that would go on for
17 hours. It just depends on the intricacies of the spe-
cial effects that are happening, or if the sesame seeds
are not perfectly placed on the buns. There are so
manydifferentvariablesthatgointoagreatshot.The
TV commercials now are just phenomenal. The de-
signs on the nails are awesome. We started to do that
a little bit in the book that I wrote, Style on Hand.
I was just going through it again and you know,
we started to introduce all the different designs
on the nail beds, and because my nail bed was so
big there was plenty of room to play. But now it’s
like everyone just exploded in this direction. I think
it’s a lot of fun. Who would think to ever put green
on your nails? And it looks great! You know, we
were safe with red and purple, like a really dark
purple. Grey I think was like “Woa” back then.
P.Y: Tell me more about your book.
L.K.B: I was always very particular about who
I was going to be working with — whether Elissa
Ferri or Roseann Singleton or Olga or Sheryl Bailey
or Jin Soon — it was just a handful of people and
that was it. I never went to the salons, and if I did, I
thinkIwasjusttoocriticalbecausetheseadagencies
were paying me a lot of money. I really had to
be very selective in who I let touch my hands. So
I figured, you know what, either it’s going to be
me, or the five that I just mentioned. I thought we
should write a book about how to take care of your
hands to make them the best that you possibly can.
I will show you the tricks of my trade and what I do.
For example if I had a paper cut, I would show you
how to get rid of that and get it all prepared for that
day. It’s a very comprehensive book, we talk about
vitamins and what you’re eating. I mean I wrote the
book in 1998…how many years ago was that?
P.Y: It’s 17 years ago.
L.K.B: 17! Oh my god! But you know what, it’s
a testament to this book because I can tell you,
everything that you eat, everything that you put
into your body will affect your skin and your
nails. You also have to be very careful about who
you let touch your nails, and you should probably
bring your own instruments to the salons. Because
I don’t believe that they sanitize it well enough,
how they’re pushing back your cuticles, it can even
be dangerous. I haven’t even checked on Amazon
to see if this book is still there [Editor’s note: it’s
available]. I think the last time I did it, it was avai-
lable for like a penny [laughs]. They don’t print the
book anymore but we did go back to Rizzoli.
I feel very blessed
to have had Irving
Penn paint on my
hands. Not many
people can
say that.
6. P.Y: Other than being competitive, do you
think the industry has changed in other ways since
you first started?
L.K.B: I think it’s exploded now. It’s so exciting
to see all of these different colors that are happe-
ning on nails, I love it! I stepped away to raise my
children, so essentially, these last 10 or 15 years, I
would be pulled out to do these things which I love
doing. I would always feel like it’s a vacation away
from the family. I feel like now they know where
the refrigerator is [laughs], they know how to do
their homework, I feel it’s time for me to phase
back in and get back to work.
P.Y: Do you think it’s impossible to juggle
family and career?
L.K.B: For me, it’s not easy. I remember one job,
right when I had my first child, it was in New
Jersey, and it was 3 A.M. and I was still shooting
this commercial. I was breastfeeding at the time
but my baby was about three hours away. My
husband was wonderful, he would bring the baby
to the set, which was great, but since we lived in
South Hampton it was just too much. So I made
that decision because my family is going to be
with me for just a nanosecond and then they’re
going to be out in the world. It was a choice that I
made and I’m glad I did. I love them, and I’ve been
really lucky.
P.Y: Have you thought of starting your own
agency?
L.K.B: No. Only because I love the flexibility
I have in traveling with my kids, and I know it’s
actually probably narrowing down too, until they
graduate. So I probably have another eight years
of traveling with them during their school breaks,
and if I start up a company, I’ve got to go in 100
percent. So, maybe when I’m, you know, seventy,
I can do something like that.
P.Y: I am very curious to know, how does it
feel to touch people that you don’t know?
L.K.B: [Laughs] I guess you just sort of separate
that notion of, “Oh my god, I’m going to be tou-
ching somebody.” It’s all for the end result, which is
7. L I S A K E N N Y B A S S
that photograph, or that image that you are trying
to sell. I remember doing something for Neutrogena
and it was this beautiful leg model, and my arm
was right on top of her leg so it would appear as
if it was all hers. Essentially, the reason that they
would hire two different people is that there’s no
possible way to make that image look as if it were
coming from one person. You’ve got to get in there
and make this thing work. That’s how I approached
it all the time. I remember for Brooke Shields,
she was doing this contact lens ad, and there was
absolutely no way, even for me, to put the contact
in my eye and look perfect. They had me come in
and put a finger right in front of her eye. She has
beautiful hands, trust me, it’s just that there is no
possible way to contort your body to make that
image work. It’s never about the models; it’s always
about the image that they are trying to sell, or
what the product or the magazine wants to convey.
P.Y: So there was never an uncomfortable
moment? Even when you had to touch someone’s
mouth?
L.K.B: That was actually an Irving Penn
shot. It’s weird, you feel them breathing on your
finger [laughs]. But it’s an extraordinary shot, it’s
beautiful and it’s Irving Penn. I remember doing
something with Botox, when it started to become
really big. Putting a needle right on this girl’s face,
and I thought, I don’t want to poke this beautiful
face! So you have to be very steady and really calm.
I think that’s maybe why I got asked to work a lot,
because I’m just laid back.
P.Y: And how was it to work with Julia
Roberts?
L.K.B: I got to the audition, and I didn’t know
who it was for. I often didn’t know who it was for
until I actually showed up. And so wardrobe came
up to me and said, “Ok, we want you to go upstairs
and get into Julia’s clothes.” I asked, “Who’s Julia?”
And they said, “Julia Roberts, it’s for the movie
The Pelican Brief.” I was like, “Oh my god! Ok.”
P.Y: The agency would send you and you didn’t
know what it was for?
L.K.B: Sometimes no, sometimes yes. They
didn’t tell me that I was doing a commercial for
Madonna. That was when Alek Keshishian, who
did her Truth or Dare film, was doing a Japanese
sake commercial. The set was very tightly secured;
I remember being escorted to the bathroom. I did
not meet her. But back to Julia Roberts, they wanted
me to get into her outfit and I thought, “Has
anybody looked at me, like hello?” I remember
looking at myself in the mirror thinking, “Oh my
God.” So I walked downstairs and said, “I have no
problems doing this but don’t ask me to sit down
because I will rip this skirt to no end” [laughs]
We shot in New York and then they asked me to
fly out to Los Angeles and I get a call saying “Can
you fit into size 28-32 Levi’s 501 jeans?” I’m like,
“No, I can’t do that.” I remember just not eating
the entire way just to get into these jeans. It was
fun. And again, she has very beautiful hands. But
at the time she had just married Lyle Lovett and
she was on her honeymoon and I think that the
film may have gone overtime so it was probably
cheaper to get me in.
A year ago I get a call from a director
saying, “Do you think you could be on set in L.A.
tomorrow? Julia’s going to be here and we really
need somebody to be her hands.” And I’m like,
“Oh, I just put my husband on a plane and I’m
here with the kids so I can’t do it.” But it would’ve
been fun.
P.Y: Did the way to take care of your hands
change over time?
L.K.B: No, actually I’ve taken care of my hands
consistently the same all throughout. I’ve got my
little secret remedies that I keep doing.
I’ll tell you a secret — Elizabeth Arden
8-hour Cream is perfect for your cuticles, it’s the
best, I love it. I’m doing the paraffin treatments,
but the best thing as I get older is just to take more
vitamins [laughs].
P.Y: Really?
L.K.B: Yeah, I take a lot of vitamins. And that’s
basically it, just wearing the gloves. But raising
children and having my family and having a home
and dogs, my hands are into everything.
10. 125
Special thanks to Acme Studio
P.Y: So is there a market for aging hands?
L.K.B: Yeah, I think so! You know, older women
have more money to spend. That’s a giant market
that you’ve got to focus on.
P.Y: Are there older women who are hand
models?
L.K.B: Usually not. I haven’t noticed it.
P.Y: It’s interesting because of course there
are so many older women that we can market to.
Everyone is going to age eventually.
L.K.B: There are definitely some issues with aging
and I’ve noticed sometimes just because I was driving
so much, the left hand would get a little bit of sun, and
the right wouldn’t, so there were more spots. You can’t
get away from aging. It’s definitely going to happen.
P.Y: Yeah, and it’s ok actually! I think that’s
what we need to tell people.
L.K.B: Well, there was something on recently
about Cindy Crawford revealing her stomach in a
shoot for Marie Claire. She looked awesome! This
is, unfortunately, what happens but she looks incre-
dible! But it’s your style, it’s your confidence. You’ve
gone through so much that you’re like, Whatever!
It’s going to be fine!
P.Y: But then when we see a man with the
same wrinkles, with the same white hair and we love
it! Why don’t people look at women the same way?
L.K.B: Really, women are harder on other women.
Maybe the men are just like, “You look great.” So,
maybe it’s…
P.Y: It’s our perception you think?
L.K.B: Yes, I really do. Because you know, you
look at Cindy and she has two children that are
probably my children’s age and I can identify with
this. I know what she’s going through. I can em-
pathize. I know the struggles, I get it, and you look
like that in the meantime?! That’s incredible. So
just welcome it. It’s all going to be ok, and I think
that as long as you are loved, or you can love, you’ll
be fine. The wrinkles, if anything, they signify a
past that you have accomplished.
P.Y: I agree. Obviously being a hand model
you were in the beauty business — have you felt
any pressure throughout the years that you had to
be beautiful and well taken care of?
L.K.B: It was interesting, my last audition I
thought I’m not going to go anymore. They’ll see
my hands and then they’ll see my face and it would
be like a mix-up for the casting. I just felt like they
wanted the younger hands. And I thought, “Al-
right, it’s time to pass the torch”. But I still believe
that people my age have so much more to say and
we know that time is of the essence, so we’ve got to
do it now. There’s no time for waiting and making
your hands look prettier or getting them back to
where they used to be. They’re never going to be
back there, so either you’re going to take it now
with the confidence you’ve got. The hands can defi-
nitely express that, and make it work. Sell it.
P.Y: What’s the best piece of advice that you’ve
been given, that you have kept as a model?
L.K.B: Tony Cenicola said, “Just remember,
everything that you touch, you touch it as if it’s
crystal. Like it is so delicate and so precious, and
you’re there to support it.” That was it. It just made
perfect sense, because really, it wasn’t about my
hand it was always about the product and suppor-
ting it. And that’s why I always felt like I was the
assistant.
