CHICAGO (WLS) — A visionary in the beauty industry, she crafted a makeup brand that celebrated women’s natural beauty rather than altering their appearance.
Bobbi Brown’s makeup journey began with ten lipsticks, each in a unique “nude” shade designed to complement various skin tones. Her life and career are chronicled in her newly published autobiography, “Still Bobbi.”
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During her book tour stop in Chicago, her hometown, Brown reflected on the influential women who shaped her journey.
“It’s always good to be home,” she expressed warmly.
Although she has spent much of her life on the East Coast, Chicago remains a special place for Brown.
“I was born in Chicago, and we moved to Wilmette when I was about a year old,” Brown recalled. “By the time my parents were 25, they had three kids living in the suburbs. My mother always looked impeccable, and both of my parents valued appearances greatly.”
It was Brown’s late mother who helped her pinpoint what she wanted to do with her life.
After Brown graduated from New Trier High School, she bounced around, from one college to the next. Bored to tears and ready to drop out, Brown’s mother pointed her in another direction.
“She said, ‘you can’t. You have to graduate. If it was your birthday and you could do anything you want, what would you want to do?’ And I remember saying, ‘I want to go to Marshall Field’s and play with makeup.’ She said, ‘Well, that’s easy, why don’t you be a makeup artist?’” Brown said.
That conversation started Brown down the path that would lead to fame and fortune for helping women to look like themselves, but better. Her aesthetic is inspired, in part, by her mom, but also by another woman, a little farther down the family tree.
“Growing up with a very glamorous mother was wonderful, who cared about looks and beauty. But I also had Aunt Alice, who is the most simple, practical, well-read, educated woman, with the most wonderful love affair with my Uncle Albert. She’s such an amazing role model. I’m lucky that she’s the one I can call, on many things,” Brown said. “She is just common sense. She is smart, but pure on common sense. You ask her a question, she starts every sentence with, ‘Look, comma’ and then tells you.”
Aunt Alice, now 94 and living in a Wilmette retirement home says that catchphrase is intentional.
“And I always say, ‘Now look.’ And the minute I say that, she’s quiet and she listens. I learned that the second time I used it. I said, ‘Oh, I know how to get to her,’” Alice said.
The pair are still very close. And they share that down-to-earth ethos.
Speaking of family, while Brown was building her billion-dollar business. She was also raising her three sons.
