What Does Red Lipstick And Nails Mean?

Taylor Swift. Photo: Jason Merritt/Getty Images — Taylor Swift. Photograph: Jason Merritt/Getty Images

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Ruby-red lipstick has had a surprisingly tumultuous history. It may exist one of the most powerful symbols of female beauty and sexuality in the Western globe, but the power it wields has caused red lip colour to exist regulated and condemned on numerous occasions for "deceiving men" and "undermining class divides." And while lipstick ingredients accept varied wildly throughout time, one matter remains consequent: women are willing to put almost anything on their lips for the attraction of a perfect scarlet pout, even if means exposure to toxic materials and risking abort or social exile.

Ancient Civilizations

Many historians consider Aboriginal Sumerians to be the inventors of lipstick from the discovery of cosmetic cases dating dorsum to 3,500 B.C. Others like to credit the true nascency of lip painting to Ancient Egypt, when both men and women rouged their lips using a mixture of reddish ochre, cerise, wax or fat. [2]

Women possessed little ability in Aboriginal Greece, and were also discouraged from wearing lipstick in public, with the exception of prostitutes, who actually possessed more legal power that afforded them the ability to flaunt scarlet lip pigment (although it was ofttimes made with ingredients such as carmine dye, sheep sweat and crocodile excrement). Unfortunately, this too led to the first known law related to lipstick, which dictated that prostitutes could exist punished for improperly posing as ladies if they appeared without their designated lip pigment. [3]

Women had it (relatively) improve in Ancient Rome. Although it typically contained a potentially deadly amount of toxic ingredients, lipstick was used past both genders throughout the Empire, and served as a way to distinguish social class and rank.

Medieval Period

Throughout the Medieval flow (400s-1400s A.D.), lip color in Europe came in and out of public favor due to diverse attempts by religious groups to condemn makeup for "challenging God and his workmanship." [4] Lipstick was also used to distinguish social classes during this period, such every bit the do of Italian society ladies of the 1200s wearing bright pink lip colour while lower classes wore earthy reddish tones to announce their inferior social standing. [2]

The Renaissance

Although English pastors in the 1500s tried to denounce lip painting every bit the "devil's work," that didn't stop Queen Elizabeth I from using a mixture of cochineal, gum Arabic, egg white and fig milk that made reddish lips 1 of the quintessential parts of Elizabethan mode. [four] In the 1600s, the clergy connected to fight against the perceived "sin" of lip coloring, while English citizens (including many respectable men) continued using unlike shades of ruby to distinguish betwixt social classes. [2]

The 1700s

In 1770, the British government finally passed a law that formally condemned lipstick on the basis that "women found guilty of seducing men into wedlock past cosmetic ways could be tried for witchcraft." Seriously. Like England, some American states also "protected" men from the "trickery" of lipstick by allowing a marriage to be annulled if the married woman had used lip color during the couple's courting. Fortunately, women in the pre-revolution era of France didn't take reason to end using bright red lips to assistance contrast their beauty ideal of a white porcelain complexion. [2]

The 1800s

Lip painting fell out of vogue in the Western world during virtually of the 1800s due to the influence of Queen Victoria. Even so, according to some historians, the 1860s mark the kickoff of the revival of cosmetic use worldwide. The Parisian cosmetic make Guerlain had its showtime commercially successful lipstick take off in the 1880s, which was made from grapefruit mixed with butter and wax. [2] Since applying lipstick was still seen as something that should but be done in total secrecy, stage actress Sarah Bernhardt acquired a huge scandal past applying her lipstick freely in public in the late 1800s. [3]

The Early 1900s

By the turn of the 20th century, makeup had finally become socially acceptable. Co-ordinate to Madeleine Marsh, author of "Compacts and Cosmetics," the first and most famous manifestation of crimson lipstick was when suffragettes took the streets of New York in 1912 wearing brilliant cherry lipstick. Later centuries of male authority restricting women's utilize of lipstick for moral and religious reasons, red lip color had go a true symbol of female rebellion.

In 1915, American inventor Maurice Levy introduced the kickoff lip colour in a sliding metal tube, which gave nativity to lipstick as we know it today. Despite this modern advancement, the mutual American recipe of crushed insects, beeswax and olive oil made lipsticks plough rancid several hours afterwards awarding. Additionally, many lipstick formulas however independent potentially toxic ingredients, every bit Congress didn't laissez passer an effective deed to protect the safe of cosmetics until 1938. [2]

1920s-1930s

American'due south prejudices against bold red lipstick were diminished past the growing popularity of motion pictures, which featured silent film starlets wearing exaggeratedly nighttime lips. Consumers tried the replicate their favorite star's signature pouts, such as Clara Bow's "cupid bow" and Mae Murray's "bee-stung" lips.

Coil to Keep

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In 1933, Vogue declared lipstick "the most important cosmetic for women," which was made evident past the continued growth in the market place, even while the Great Depression was in full swing. This is what inspired the "Lipstick Outcome," a term used by economists to explain why consumers go along to purchase small, "frivolous" goods like lipstick to elevator spirits during times of financial hardship.

1940s

Vintage Elizabeth Arden ad. — Vintage Elizabeth Arden advertising.

During World State of war Two, cosmetic advertisers introduced politically charged advertisement campaigns for colors such equally "Victory Ruby," encouraging women to embrace beauty upkeep as part of their civic duty. One ad for Tangee lipstick during the war boldly stated, "No lipstick…. volition win the state of war. But it symbolizes one of the reasons why we are fighting—the precious right of women to exist feminine and lovely nether any circumstances." [2]

1950s

Revlon introduced its iconic "Burn down and Ice" advertizement campaign in 1952, which has go known every bit ane of the most constructive ads in cosmetic history. The 2-page ad included a list of 15 questions to "test" if a reader's personality suited the bold red lipstick shown on model Dorian Leigh. (A few examples: Have you e'er danced with your shoes off? Practice you call up that any man really understands yous?) To add together more fuel to the fire, actresses like Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe were always shown in their signature scarlet shades, making red lipstick more desirable and omnipresent than e'er before.

1960s-1970s

The 1960s saw a huge decrease in the popularity of reddish lip color due to the neutral lips favored by mod fashion and the more natural beauty regimen popularized by the hippie civilisation that continued into the 1970s. Meanwhile, some feminist groups denounced lipstick for being solely intended for the pleasure of men. (This mindset would shift in the late 1990s, when 3rd-wave feminism or "lipstick feminism" encouraged women to enjoy their sexuality and femininity in opposition to patriarchal oppression.) [1]

With the advent of disco-era glamour, cherry red glossy lips came back into high manner. The glam and punk rock subcultures also saw a rise in the use of lipstick by men, although this was aught new: Egyptian men were painting their lips thousands of years before David Bowie ever picked upwards a tube.

1980s-1990s

The 1980s brought excessively vivid red lips, perhaps remembered best on the mouth of Madonna in her early years. Nevertheless, the stop of the decade and the 1990s saw a strong trend towards nude, muted lipstick shades, also as a plethora of brown tones.

As the millennium reached an stop, most women favored lipstick that matched their mood and appearance over adhering to trends.

Today

Jennifer Lawrence. Photo: Samir Hussein/Getty Images — Jennifer Lawrence. Photograph: Samir Hussein/Getty Images

A pair of cherry red lips looks just as chic today equally it did hundreds of years ago. Fortunately, information technology's too a lot less likely to contain toxic ingredients (although information technology'due south still a expert idea to be enlightened of what's inside your favorite tube!). In most parts of the modern earth, women have the freedom to flaunt bold red lips without the fear of persecution, and people accept become freer to utilize lipstick to express themselves regardless of their gender or social status. Perhaps the biggest difficulty that we confront with scarlet lipstick today is choosing the perfect shade.

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Sources not linked:

[1] Ford, Lynne E. "Encyclopedia of Women in American Politics." New York: Infobase Publishing, 2007.
[ii] Kozlowski, Karen and Million Cohen Ragas. "Read My Lips: A Cultural History of Lipstick." San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1998.
[3] Pallingston, Jessica. "Lipstick." New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998.
[4] Steele, Valerie (ed.). "Encyclopedia of Clothing and Mode." New York: Charles Scribners & Sons, 2004.