A Makeup Controversy: MAC Cosmetics Donating 100% of Rodarte Collection's Profits to Juarez, Mexico

New York designer label Rodarte has teamed up with MAC cosmetics to create a makeup line set to release this fall. The color scheme and names of the beauty products were inspired from a road trip Rodarte designers Laura and Kate Mulleavy took through the towns on the Texas/Mexico border. They were particularly struck by the impoverished factory workers walking to work at dawn in Juarez, a small factory town in Mexico.

They said in a statement, "The ethereal nature of the landscape influenced the creative development and desert palette of the collection."

But the names chosen for the dusky colors and frosty nail polishes including "Juarez," "Factory" and "Ghost" stirred severe controversy as Juarez is known for its alarmingly high rate of murders and rape victims. These women, aged from 12 to 22, were attacked, raped, and killed on their way to and from work at the factories. Their disappearances were never solved due to a notoriously corrupt policing system.

The campaign ad for the collection didn't help the corporations -- featuring a pale, ghostly-looking girl with blackened eyes. The line has since been under fire as the blogospheres cried at the insensitivity of using rape victims as bait for selling beauty products.

The Mulleavy sisters have apologized saying, "we never intended to make light of this serious issue and we are truly sorry," while, John Demsey, president of MAC cosmetics, announced MAC will generously be donating 100 percent of the Rodarte collection's profits to a non-profit organization to help the women in Juarez. They've also changed the product names in the collection hoping to remarket the line in time for its launch on September 15th.

While the Fall 2010 designs both of Rodarte's runway collection and makeup line inappropriately featured the injustice of this town, in a twisted way, they have brought more attention to the beauty and sadness of these women's plight. It's not every day when a beauty company gives all its profits to help women in need.

By Sharon Yi