James Kaliardos is a New York-based makeup artist and co-founder of the exclusive concept magazine Visionaire in 1991 V magazine.
Kaliardos was born in Detroit and his father is from Greece. He moved to New York when he was 17 years old and got accepted to the summer program of New York’s prestigious Parsons School of Design where he studied history of art, design, photography, theatre and cinema.
He started working for Details magazine, a free-spirited downtown magazine. Stephen Gan was also working there as the fashion director. With him and Cecilia Dean, all three co-founded the Visionaire magazine in 1991. Always inspired, its visionary creators unveiled a bi-monthly magazine, “V” in 1999 covering both fashion and culture at the same time, with a broad distribution and fresh format.
Combining an editorial eye with a unique brand of glamour and chic minimalism, Kaliardos is in high demand by brands such as Louis Vuitton, NARS, MAC, and Tom Ford Beauty.
His work is legendary within the industry as he works backstage across all the international fashion weeks. He is a famed creative talent on some of fashion’s biggest shoots.
James has worked with Ellen von Unwerth, Steven Klein and Meisel, as well the late, great and legendary photographers Irving Penn and Richard Avedon.
In 1996, Kaliardos created “The Innocent Theatre Company”, a theatre company based in New York, which produced both new works and reworkings of classic performances with a touch of art and fashion.
Kaliardos was recently awarded InStyle’s 2018-19 Makeup Artist of the Year.
In August 2021, Kaliardos was nominated as brand ambassador for the Texas-based beauty startup SIIA.
He is represented by The Wall Group and you can find his portfolio HERE
