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Home | Decades of beauty | The make-up moguls | The changing faces of power | Because they're worth it | Find out more
Political lipstick | Ammunition and armour | Naked faces and hairy legs | Positive images
Some may still consider women who prioritise or simply enjoy cosmetics to be vacuous, vain or just plain stupid. Yet, perhaps surprisingly, make-up has played an important role in female politics.
Throughout history and in modern societies where the wearing of make-up is still disapproved of by men, women have often used it as a challenge and as a form of insubordination and rebellion. For example, the suffragettes adopted red lipstick as a symbol of defiance before World War I, while in recent times, some Afghan women - crushed under the ultra-patriarchal Taliban system - wore full make-up under their burkas.
'Make-up is as fraught with political meaning and intention as it has ever been,' says Farzaneh Milani, a professor of Persian and women's studies at the University of Virginia. 'Iranian women, for instance, may have successfully invaded male territories - behind steering wheels, in positions of government, in universities - yet under Islamic law, a dab of lipstick can still land them in jail. A lipstick is not just lipstick in Iran. It transmits political messages. It is a weapon.'
The act of wearing cosmetics is often referred to in military terms, as a shield or tactic when faced with confrontation. 'make-up generates more money than armaments,' says novelist Kathy Lette, 'and that's what it is - ammunition in the sex war.' The concept of make-up as armour reached its height in the 1980s, when women were expected to be ruthless and tough in order to break the glass ceiling and reach the boardroom.
'Alexis Colby', the high-flying businesswoman played by Joan Collins in the American soap Dynasty, epitomised the idea of what was expected from a powerful female boss at the time - an immaculate, high-maintenance look, a façade of complete control. 'If I was faced with a battle or heavy-duty meeting, there's no way I'd go in without my make-up on,' admits one real-life female executive. 'It makes me feel more powerful and capable of dealing with things.'
Other women, however, take the view that make-up is society's way of restricting women. They see it as a trap, a perpetuation of the notion that they must aspire to a fashionable idea of beauty, which results in such feelings of inadequacy that they will keep on buying products to make them feel better about themselves.
This point of view was championed by the women's liberation movement in the 1970s. Books such as Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch challenged sexual politics as never before, encouraging women to fight against the 'beauty myth' by refusing to wear make-up or shave their legs, and to celebrate their natural beauty.
Despite this, the desire for beauty products did not subside and sales of cosmetics continue to reach phenomenal targets. Some companies have successfully tailored the selling power of cosmetics to convey universally positive messages. For instance, by using the likes of drag queen Ru Paul and lesbian singer kd lang to front their ad campaigns, MAC celebrates individualism and challenges social stereotypes.
The Body Shop, meanwhile, whose policy of promoting global issues may appear a little outmoded now, still survives in an increasingly competitive market. 'Whatever we think of The Body Shop now,' says one major marketing executive, 'founder Anita Roddick undoubtedly raised awareness of many issues that have become widely recognised, and for that I think she deserves a pat on the back.'
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