INTERVIEW WITH KD LANG

During her recent trip to Vancouver for the Fashion Cares AIDS benefit kd took the time to sit down with journalise Virginia Leeming to talk about AIDS, her lipstick and the politically correct. The Vancouver Sun kindly granted us permission to reprint the interview that appeared in the Style section of the newspaper on November 24, 1998.

Canadian singing sensation kd lang visited Vancouver briefly on Nov 13 to open the MAC cosmetics show to raise money for local AIDS charities. Before the event, she agreed to briefly discuss her involvement as a spokesperson for the Toronto-based cosmetics company. Dressed in black from head to toe, with a few straggly locks hanging, almost Elvis-style, on her face, she appeared to be wearing barely a brush of lipstick. Her handshake is a grip with strength.

VL: Do you have any idea how much money your particular lipstick colour (which is Viva Glam II, a pink shade) has earned?"

Kd: About four million. It raised a million really quickly when it first came out and that was like a year ago, so I think it's about four million now. But altogether Viva Glam I (drag queen RuPaul's fundraising red lip colour) and II, with Kids Helping Kids cars (card featuring drawings by children who are HIV positive), have raised over 15 million." (The money raised goes to local AIDS charities).

I probably can't think of an original question that you haven't heard before as a spokesperson for MAC AIDS funs, but was there a special reason you got involved in the first place with MAC?

Yeah, well you know, like there's a lot of organisations looking for a celebrity spokesperson. Really, because of a lot of different parallels in our values. They are Canadian, they were the first company not to test on animals, they recycle, they're kinda pc and I try to keep concerned with that. But also because of their really strong commitment to AIDS. And 15 million dollars (raised for HIV/AIDS programs) for a cosmetic company, plus they have a black drag queen for their first spokesperson and a lesbian for their second, that's pretty cool.

You're not a lipstick lesbian are you.

Yes, I'm a professional lipstick lesbian. Not a practicing one, but a professional one.

I understand you have beautiful skin. Can you tell me, is that genetic or does it come from creams?

I'm Canadian; ever looked at Canadian skin? It's really beautiful. My mother has astonishing skin.

So it isn't always the creams you put on?

No, no, it's genetics and water

So you lead a pretty healthy lifestyle?

Pretty healthy. I've been slippin' a little bit lately, because I took a year off. That's good. I needed it.

Would you like to add anything to our interview?

Well, I guess my whole purpose of being here is to raise awareness and to raise money. You know the fight against AIDS is definitely not over. Far from it. If people abandon an issue after it has lost its glamour, it's still something that we have to fight against.

I don't think we have seen the full brunt of it yet. Especially in continents like Africa.

Yeah, especially when you get statistics like one in four people in Kenya.

The next day, kd and Phillip Ing, MAC's artistic director, hopped on a plane bound for Sydney, Australia, where more stores are being opened, and to bring their AIDS awareness to the land of Oz.