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Demi's Birthday Suit


Demi's Birthday Suit, or The Suit, was a trompe-l'œil body painting by Joanne Gair photographed by Annie Leibovitz that was featured on the cover of the Vanity Fair August 1992 issue to commemorate and exploit the success of Leibovitz's More Demi Moore cover photo of Demi Moore one year earlier. As an example of modern body painting artwork, it raised the profile of Gair in pop culture as an artist in that genre.

The work is considered to be groundbreaking by some, although there is controversy surrounding its originality. The of this image serves as the cover to Gair's second bodypainting book, Body Painting. The photo shoot also let Moore show off the results of her fitness regimen.

Gene Newman considers the body painting of Moore to be the introduction of modern body painting to the world. Although willing to credit Moore and Gair with the rebirth of bodypainting in a San Francisco Chronicle story, the "makeup artist, wig maker and stylist" Jim Ponder had difficulty calling interest in bodypainting a trend because it traces back to the "beginnings of man." Joanne Gair has described the painting as a stylized reference to Botticelli, since the sinuous pose is reminiscent of the central figures in both Primavera and The Birth of Venus. The Amazon.com product description for Gair's book calls her participation in this photoshoot as her "defining moment." Soon after the release of the magazine Gair became such a pop culture icon that she was considered for an Absolut Vodka Absolut Gair ad campaign according to a story in The New York Times. The work is considered to be an example from the most sophisticated end of the bodypainting spectrum which extends all the way to Henna tattoos.


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