Dec 17, 2015 08:10 PM
http://www.openlettersmonthly.com/in-defense-of-makeup/
EXCERPT: [...] Bitter animosity toward women’s use of cosmetics is nothing new. In her book on makeup practices and production, "Face Paint: The Story of Makeup," Lisa Eldridge – a renowned professional makeup artist – charts out the history of the debate on the value of applying color to the body. She finds that makeup has been considered a form of artifice, or even indecency, for a large portion of history from ancient Greece through the present, while, on the other side of the spectrum, some contemporary feminists have denounced makeup as an instrument of oppression that forces women to conform to an ideal.
[...] From chapter to chapter, Eldridge returns to her discovery that “the freedom and rights accorded to women during a given period are very closely linked to the freedom with which they painted their faces,” the examples of which recur throughout history. For instance, unlike the barefaced women of later centuries, ancient “Egyptian women,” particularly fond of strong makeup, “actually had a fair amount of autonomy.”
From ancient Greece through roughly the First World War, cosmetics had faced various forms of censure, and the fashion of their application was largely determined by men’s discourse on women’s decorum. [...] Indeed, makeup has often been associated with the dangers of a woman’s body, and suppressing her attention to physical beauty was intended to restrict the woman’s carnal life. Throughout the ages, makeup was also deemed a sin, a vice, or was classified with other forms of immodesty, the implication being that women’s reluctance to hide, their wish to be attended to, was a violation of etiquette and good breeding.
Additionally, critics often expressed the view that beauty products were a form of deception. The ancient Greek author Xenophon, in his Oeconomicus, argued that the dishonesty of rouge was its ability to give the appearance of blood-flow to the cheeks, signifying virility and health even in subjects who lacked them. The logic behind this argument was that women’s bodies were supposed to serve an important function in their desirability as wives and mothers, and men wanted to be certain that women were as attractive and healthy as they appeared at first sight. Eldridge also demonstrates the reverse of this pattern, revealing a link between makeup use and the autonomy of women:
[...] throughout history, the color of the skin was fashioned to conform to social (read: men’s) expectations. [...] Women – from Japanese Geishas to Renaissance nobility – painted or powdered their faces to appear lighter in skin tone, which was deemed the color of prestige, conveying that the women were not “forced to work outdoors” where they could be exposed to the sun’s rays. Makeup functioned as a mode of self-representation, yet its signification was determined by public opinion.
[...] Not surprisingly, Eldridge declares that as women attained more rights, the responses to cosmetics also evolved, as did the beauty trends. The two World Wars functioned as a turning point in the social status of women and their makeup. Undertaking men’s jobs while the latter were sent to the front, women experienced “a previously unheard-of sense of social and financial independence,” and in accordance with the pattern, “cosmetics were not untouched by this change, shifting from being something that must be used covertly to something to be proud of…” For the first time,
Cosmetics enabled women to display their self-determination: wearing makeup represented the very ability to wear it....
EXCERPT: [...] Bitter animosity toward women’s use of cosmetics is nothing new. In her book on makeup practices and production, "Face Paint: The Story of Makeup," Lisa Eldridge – a renowned professional makeup artist – charts out the history of the debate on the value of applying color to the body. She finds that makeup has been considered a form of artifice, or even indecency, for a large portion of history from ancient Greece through the present, while, on the other side of the spectrum, some contemporary feminists have denounced makeup as an instrument of oppression that forces women to conform to an ideal.
[...] From chapter to chapter, Eldridge returns to her discovery that “the freedom and rights accorded to women during a given period are very closely linked to the freedom with which they painted their faces,” the examples of which recur throughout history. For instance, unlike the barefaced women of later centuries, ancient “Egyptian women,” particularly fond of strong makeup, “actually had a fair amount of autonomy.”
From ancient Greece through roughly the First World War, cosmetics had faced various forms of censure, and the fashion of their application was largely determined by men’s discourse on women’s decorum. [...] Indeed, makeup has often been associated with the dangers of a woman’s body, and suppressing her attention to physical beauty was intended to restrict the woman’s carnal life. Throughout the ages, makeup was also deemed a sin, a vice, or was classified with other forms of immodesty, the implication being that women’s reluctance to hide, their wish to be attended to, was a violation of etiquette and good breeding.
Additionally, critics often expressed the view that beauty products were a form of deception. The ancient Greek author Xenophon, in his Oeconomicus, argued that the dishonesty of rouge was its ability to give the appearance of blood-flow to the cheeks, signifying virility and health even in subjects who lacked them. The logic behind this argument was that women’s bodies were supposed to serve an important function in their desirability as wives and mothers, and men wanted to be certain that women were as attractive and healthy as they appeared at first sight. Eldridge also demonstrates the reverse of this pattern, revealing a link between makeup use and the autonomy of women:
Quote:An exception to this rule was the [ancient Greek] hetaerae, or courtesans, who generally wore a lot more makeup, and were, ironically, afforded more rights. They were also allowed to attend the symposia and control their own money. Interestingly, courtesans, professional mistresses, and prostitutes being afforded more freedom and power than other women (in addition to wearing more makeup) is a pattern that has repeated throughout the ages.
[...] throughout history, the color of the skin was fashioned to conform to social (read: men’s) expectations. [...] Women – from Japanese Geishas to Renaissance nobility – painted or powdered their faces to appear lighter in skin tone, which was deemed the color of prestige, conveying that the women were not “forced to work outdoors” where they could be exposed to the sun’s rays. Makeup functioned as a mode of self-representation, yet its signification was determined by public opinion.
[...] Not surprisingly, Eldridge declares that as women attained more rights, the responses to cosmetics also evolved, as did the beauty trends. The two World Wars functioned as a turning point in the social status of women and their makeup. Undertaking men’s jobs while the latter were sent to the front, women experienced “a previously unheard-of sense of social and financial independence,” and in accordance with the pattern, “cosmetics were not untouched by this change, shifting from being something that must be used covertly to something to be proud of…” For the first time,
Quote:Democratized and empowered, young women used makeup to express themselves and set themselves apart from their mothers and grandmothers for whom makeup had been frowned upon; suddenly they could emulate their screen idols and have fun doing so.
Cosmetics enabled women to display their self-determination: wearing makeup represented the very ability to wear it....