ALEXANDRA RICHARDS, NEW YORK CITY, 2008
COURTESY MICHAEL ANGELO

Made iconic by the lips of Coco Chanel, Marilyn Monroe, and even Cleopatra, red lipstick is the cosmetic embodiment of strength, confidence and sexuality. However, in Cambodia, it has quite a different connotation. Here, girls as young as three years old, who have been thrust into the ruthless world of sex trafficking, are smeared with the crimson paint before being sold as slaves. And Michael Angelo, owner of the Meatpacking District's quirky-chic Wonderland Beauty Parlor, is taking a stand.

The tattooed beauty expert-cum-photographer's crusade began after being "scarred" by Miranda Pearl's 2006 Glamour article on the subject. "I am standing outside a barrack built of sticks that seems on the verge of collapse, when a door opens to reveal an unlikely young woman. Haggard from a drunken sleep, she is still wearing bright-red lipstick from the night before and carries an odor of sweat, sperm and filth," read the opening passage. But disturbed as he was by this image, he was more inspired by the article's heroine: a former sex slave turned activist, Somaly Mam.

Almost four years and two trips to Cambodia later, Angelo debuts The Lipstick Portraits, an exhibition of his own photographs that at once celebrates the sauciest of lipstick queens and aims to raise awareness and funds to aid victims of sex trafficking. Curated by Periel Aschenbrand, the show, which opens at 401 Projects on Mother's Day Weekend, will feature 64 portraits of such red-lipped vixens as Dita Von Teese, Alexandra Richards, Brooklyn Decker, and even Simon Doonan. "I wanted my subjects to be people who I thought had really mastered the art of self expression, people who aren't afraid to say I am who I am. Take it or leave it," said an emotional Angelo. It is Somaly Mam whose haunting eyes and full, stained lips, steal the show: "The first time I wore lipstick was when they sold me in the brothel," she recalled. Her portrait marked the first time she wore the shade since gaining her freedom. 100% of the proceeds from The Lipstick Portraits' prints, t-shirts and exhibition catalogues will go to the Somaly Mam foundation.


THE LIPSTICK PORTRAITS GO ON VIEW MAY 8. 401 PROJECTS IS LOCATED AT  401 WEST STREET.