The history of make-up is all very interesting from using natural pigments from plants and fruits in the prehistoric times, the oil, dark thick liner and mascara in ancient Egypt, Japanese using rice ground up rice for face powder and the Greeks using red lipstick to differentiate themselves from the rest of the world. However I am more interested in how make-up has changed along with fashion in more recent history and how its been effected by music and situations around the people.
1890's
1892 saw the launch of vogue magazine in the US which made the connection between fashion and make-up.
First cover of vogue.
1900's
Max Factor became an established company and one of the first to specialised in making film cosmetics. L'oreal also made the first ever safe hair dye. The first portable lipstick was invented called the levy tube as there was a lever at the side that raised and lowered the product into the tube.
Max Factor working on actress Josephine Dunn.
1920's
The 20's fashion was short, loose, sparkly dresses to dance and show off in with short/curly hair and a few feathers here and there so obviously the make-up had to show off a bit too. Women would wear the bold lined eyes paired with perfect skin and a dark lip. During this time women would apply their make-up out at lunch but it was unacceptable to do it at dinner. Rimmel invented the first european non toxic mascara. eyebrow pencils began getting popular in 1920 and film stars started to become propagators of new fashion trends.
Clara Bow fashion icon, everyone copied her lip
shape, where she would concentrated on the 'bow'.
1930's
In 1930, Max Factor launched the first ever lip gloss still produced today with updated packaging and recipe. L'oreal also invented sunscreen as a way of protecting skin from the sun although it never really worked properly and was later reinvented by Franz Greiter (Piz Buin)
Updated packaging of the Max effect lip gloss.
1940's
Make-up helped women feel like the world was a tiny bit better during the war so they did all they could to get their hands on some along with the simple clothing. Wearing red lipstick was seen as patriotism but as it was hard to get hold of women used beetroot juice to stain their lips instead. In 1948, hairspray was invented and led onto the 60's craze. women also used self tanning (stocking cream) and gravy browning to draw lines down the back of their legs to make it look like they wore tights.
Had to have a steady hand if you wanted
to 'draw the line'.
1950's
1950's was full of famous fashion icons such as Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor all of which wore flawless skin, plain eye-shadow, black flicked liner and bold lips. However, after the war the profit to be made on make-up as it became international business.
Very famous Marilyn Monroe shot.
1960's
60's make-up was all centered around being young and looking childish with big dolly eyes with cut creases and big big lashes. The fashion also changed dramatically with Mary Quant's mini skirt and hot pants taking the front seat. One of the most iconic make-up artists of the 60's was Barbara Hulanicki who was the creator of Biba Biba make-up.
British model twiggy fashioning a
miniskirt-smock dress and huge black dolly eyes.
1970's
This was when colour was injected into almost every eye make-up as all the 'hippies' got flary and flowery but also on the other side the rock bands started influencing fashion and make-up rather heavily. David Bowie and Suzi Quatro influenced fashion in two very different ways. Quatro showed women that there is no need to spend hours on your make-up and clothes to look beautiful. She wore the bare minimal, covering the red spots then a bit of smudged liner, whilst also influencing many girl rock bands to just be normal like the Runaways and Blondie. On the other hand Bowie took the more outlandish route dipping into science fiction and wearing make-up, which was almost unheard of for a guy, to create his signature look. Although this was common in most glam rock bands, Bowie somehow stood out from everyone else along with Adam Ant and Boy George.
Bowie wearing his high blush and hefty
lined eyes.
1980's
This was when sexual ambiguity was born. People wore whatever the hell they wanted on their face and body and no one really cared, the lines between male and female started to blur especially in the world of fashion. My favourite designer, Vivienne Westwood broke through as a punk-rock fashion designer and with that came her mad mental cat-walk looks. Also people like Madonna and Cyndi Lauper wore eccentric make-up for example; different colours on each eye and drawing random shapes in eye liner and eye shadow anywhere on the face but the eyes.
Boy George modelling for Vivienne Westwood.
1990's
The world of fashion and make-up split into two at this point. On the cat walk we saw things like dewy bronzed skin, nude lips and plain eyes but walking down the street you would see the grunge fashion with smudged eye liner all the way round the eye socket, greasy hair and holey baggy jeans with a beat up pair of converse, looking as if they've just slept for the last three days and not washed. We had nirvana to thank for this, along with Kurt Cobain's crazy but style icon of a wife, Courtney Love.
Courtney Love, lead singer of hole
modelling one of her signature
baby doll dresses.
