Why is makeup-free Pamela Anderson a revolutionary?
The models strutting skeletal bodies draped in haute couture usually make news at fashion shows. They parade the vanity and artificiality the fashion industry propagates with the zeal of a religious cult.
That’s why it takes a vision to behold for anyone merely watching these shows to upstage the models on the catwalk. Yet, that is precisely what Pamela Anderson did this week at the Paris Fashion Show.
She, of course, is an icon – recognized as much for her fake breasts as for her artificial acting. However, all it took for her to steal the show was to show up “au naturel” – makeup-free.
Jamie Lee Curtis is Hollywood royalty. So, even that bastion of vanity and artificiality, Hollywood, took note when she hailed Anderson as follows:
THE NATURAL BEAUTY REVOLUTION HAS OFFICIALLY BEGUN!
@pamelaanderson in the middle of fashion week with so many pressures and postures, and and and (sic), this woman showed up and claimed her seat at the table with nothing on her face. I am so impressed and floored by this act of courage and rebellion.
(CNN October 5, 2023)
Alas, a woman showing her true face at a public event is an act of rebellion that takes courage. In other words, it’s sad that a woman is celebrated simply for not masking her face with makeup.
Death of makeup artist inspires Anderson to go makeup-free
Curtis hails Anderson as some sort of makeup martyr. But Anderson might not be worthy of any praise.
After all, she attributes her newfound “courage” to the death of her former makeup artist, Alexis Vogel. Frankly, it’s both sad and shameful that it took a personal loss for Anderson to show off her natural beauty. Even now, she seems to be doing so more in mourning than with any sense of pride.
But ours is a fake, image-obsessed culture. Only in such a culture does it take a brush with death to recognize life’s simple truth about natural beauty.
Hailing makeup-free is dumbing courage down
Simply put, courage is Ukrainians fending off Russians. It’s Iranians fighting oppression, Latin Americans fleeing privation, and Africans staving off starvation. Courage is not women stepping out without makeup.
Therefore, hailing Anderson as a revolutionary hero for doing this reinforces paternalistic norms. After all, the fashion industry compelling women to wear makeup in public is like the Taliban regime compelling women to wear hijab.
Is it a makeup revolution or just a public cleansing?
That Taliban analogy might seem harsh. However, regular readers would expect no less. Indeed, long before Curtis hailed Anderson as the star of this year’s Paris Fashion Show, I published “Makeup-Free Alicia Keys Star of VMAs” on September 6, 2016.
Moreover, I preceded that commentary with “PSA: Unmask Your Woman Before You Tell Her She’s Beautiful” on October 16, 2013, and “Beware Makeup Morphing’ Ugly Ducklings into Swans'” on June 1, 2015.
Of course, I am no Jamie Lee Curtis. And, although talented and beautiful, Alicia Keys is no Pamela Anderson. But Curtis hailing Anderson might inspire other women to dare to go bare.
Still, shallow, click-driven trends on social media drive our culture. So I fear the next celebrity scandal will wipe away even Anderson’s rebellious act of courage, the way women wipe away their makeup at the end of the day.
Even so, here’s to the ‘revolution’! But it shouldn’t take courage for a woman to show her natural face. I hope women normalize Anderson’s courage — no death or Paris catwalk required.