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Ashley Judd: 'Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood'

(In Style) -- In the 1940s Louisiana's young Vivi Walker (Ashley Judd) was a high-spirited beauty who valued love, loyalty and her three best friends who called themselves the Ya-Yas.

But Vivi's got a dark side, as we see when she deteriorates from a southern belle to a woman on the verge of a complete breakdown, both physically and mentally. Her instability affects her relationships with all three of her children, especially daughter Sidda (Sandra Bullock).

To those who didn't know what was going on in the Walker house, Vivi seemed to be an object of envy. "Everything she had in her life that was wonderful was a very outside appearance," says hair designer Jeri Baker-Sadler, who wanted Vivi's hair to say, "she's got the whole world going for her."

Hair

There were no weaves or highlights in the 1940s. "You either bleached your hair or you didn't," says Baker-Sadler. To turn Judd's recently dyed, dark locks into Vivi's sunlit golden tresses (seen here with a sixties cropped coif) she brought in colorist Jennifer Jahanbigloo from the Beverly Hills salon Juan Juan. "Jen created a color that Ashley has not worn before in any other movie," says Baker-Sadler. "The beauty of Vivi lives because of this hair color."

Eyes

For Judd's sixties look Bowring swept Body & Soul eye shadow in Dream over the entire lid and used the brown shade from Christian Dior 5-Colour eye shadow in Roses to contour under the brow bones. Next she lined eyes with brown eyeliner and added individual lashes to the outer edges of Judd's eyelids. Bowring finished with an application of L'Oréal Voluminous mascara in black, and then fanned Judd's lashes with a flared brush for a more natural look.

Face

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"I tried to leave her skin as bare as possible to give her a sheer, glowing look," says makeup artist Felicity Bowring, who researched Max Factor's color palettes from the thirties through the present and matched them with products from several contemporary brands. She started by applying Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat No. 3 highlighter to even out Judd's skin tone, then mixed a base of Shiseido The Makeup cream foundation in O40 and Prescriptives Magic Illuminating Liquid Potion and applied with a sponge. She dabbed a bit of Stila Convertible Color in Petunia onto cheeks and finished with a dusting of Prescriptives Magic Liquid Powder. For lips Bowring used Chanel Precision Lip Definer in Nude and a blend of MAC Pink Poodle and CB-96 (frosted orange) lipsticks.

Clothes

"Long before 'having it all' was a statement that women made, Vivi was that woman," says costume designer Gary Jones. He dressed Judd as she ages from a happy-go-lucky 16-year-old to a woman in her mid-30s at her wit's end. He relied on vintage pieces, including the underwear she flaunts in a nighttime car ride with her fellow Ya-Yas, and custom-made styles, like the white jersey one-piece tennis outfit she sports in a scene set in the 1940s. The only contemporary pieces she wears are a pair of Gap turquoise plaid pedal pushers, a Liz Claiborne white cropped sweater and a Casual Corner turquoise sleeveless blouse (shown left).