It took six hours for Olivia Tassone to create her masterpiece. Inspired by Alice in Wonderland, Marie Antoinette and Black Swan, she created a pink and silver character straight out of the movies, and airbrushed it on to her friend and model Jacqueline Boisvert.

When it was her turn on the runway at Western Canada Fashion Week in Edmonton on March 28, the only thing Olivia really expected was polite applause – certainly not third place in the fantasy makeup category. 

“I didn’t think I had a chance of placing,” she said. “I didn’t really know much about it.”

But her name was announced as the third-place makeup artist, with the top two finishers being industry and competition veterans. 

Olivia heard about Edmonton’s fashion week through a Facebook group a former instructor at the Blanche MacDonald Centre created, where details of makeup competitions and jobs were posted. 

Blanche MacDonald is a fashion, aesthetics, hair and makeup school. It has trained Emmy and Gemini award winners, and entry is limited to people over the age of 19. 

Olivia is one of only a handful of people who was admitted to the school at only 17 – straight out of high school from Jasper. It took correspondence back and forth between school officials and Olivia, as she proved she was ready for the challenge and had the artistic background to excel. Her mother Wendy had to give written permission for her daughter to be there as well. 

“They pretty much had to hear that I was ready, and that’s what I wanted to do,” Olivia said. 

Olivia studied basic beauty, bridal, high fashion, airbrushing, special effects, film and television, simple film looks, special effects and makeup for newscasters. 

Western Canada Fashion Week gave Olivia the chance to use all of her creativity and skills. The challenge was to create a fantasy makeup look to be shown on the runway. Olivia took her inspiration from Marie Antoinette for the piled-high hairstyle. Her model’s pink and purple mask was reminiscent of the recent movie Black Swan, and the overall look screamed Alice in Wonderland. She threw in her favourite colours, and turned out the silver-clad model. 

The silver paint was applied with an airbrush. Olivia took a two-week airbrushing course to learn how to use the tool. The seamless silver she created reflects a much more experienced artist, but Olivia says it just clicks when she holds the airbrush. 

“As soon as I pick up the airbrush, it sort of comes natural to me,” she said. 

Once Olivia had an idea, she was hands-on through the entire process. 

“I’m pretty particular,” she said. “I like to do everything myself.”

Besides letting her mom hold a few things in place while she worked, the makeup and hair were all done by Olivia. 

The dress was designed by local Theresa Seifert out of fabric created by Olivia’s mother Wendy, who is a talented fabric artist. Originally the dress began to become too girlie, and Olivia made some changes. 

“It was looking too structured and princess like,” Olivia said. 

A few rips and tears were added, and parts of it burnt, and after 50 hours of work, the dress was complete and ready to turn heads on the runway. 

The whole look was created at fashion week. Olivia said she had an idea in mind, but only practised the hair ahead of time. 

“It was a lot of planning,” she said. 

There weren’t too many challenges, besides having to re-apply some makeup on Jacqueline’s palms before heading to the runway. 

“Her hair did not move because there was like, 10 pounds of hairspray in it,” Olivia said. 

The look was created over six hours, with breaks, all for one turn on the catwalk, Olivia said. 

“All that work and you show it off for five minutes.”

On the runway, Olivia walked out with her model and explained her inspiration in front of the gathered crowd of people within the fashion and makeup industry. 

The real action was backstage, as models came to and from the runway. Clothes were exchanged, camera flashes went off as photographers chased their subjects and artists put the finishing touches on their models. 

“It was crazy,” Olivia said. 

When it was time to announce the winners, Olivia was shocked to discover she had placed third. 

“I felt pretty good, considering I didn’t ever think I was going to place,” she said. 

Now that she has found success at Western Canada Fashion Week, Olivia wants to keep entering in more fashion competitions to get her name out there. 

“I definitely want to enter that one again now that I know what to expect, and step up my game a bit,” she said. 

Since attending school in 2009, Olivia, 19, has returned to Jasper and is now working as a makeup artist here. She prepares beautiful brides for their big day, and even has had a chance to use her abilities in prosthetic and fantasy makeup. Olivia did Halloween makeup this year for over 12 hours in October. She said she enjoyed being able to show everyone what she’s capable of, and getting to use her prosthetic pieces. 

Her aspirations lie outside of Jasper, however, and Olivia is hoping to move to a bigger centre in the fall. 

“There’s lots of weddings in the summer, but not enough for me, I guess,” Olivia said.

She hopes to launch a website featuring her work. Her ultimate dream is to work for a fashion magazine and enter an agency. 

Western Canada Fashion Week has a blog featuring photos and reviews of the designers. The fantasy makeup category was on day five of competition, and includes discussion of the winners, including Olivia. To see what she was up against, check out www.westerncanadafashionweek.com/blog