SCARLET REIGN State your claim to fame with a bold red lip. By Li Ying Lim.
Carolina Herrera Spring/ Summer ’15
Hollywood icon, glamour puss, and classic beauty are just some the many personas a slick of fiery red lipstick can give a woman. Transformative, mood-lifting, and easy on the purse, is it any wonder that they say when the economy is down, lipstick sales go up? “Lipstick tells us so many things about a woman. It tells us about her personality,” says Tom Pecheux, make-up guru and Fashion Week beauty maverick. “For example, a woman wearing a strong red lipstick suggests she wants to express a certain power.”
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The act of wearing lipstick may be empowering and meditative in itself, but the colour chosen is also crucial in asserting power through persona. Think red lips and the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich, and Ava Gardner immediately come to mind; there is a veritable list of women who owe both their immortal beauty and star status to a tube of red, and indeed, it lives up to its timeless reputation of elevating a look.
Modern-day bold-lipped icons include Alexa Chung, Emma Stone, and of course, Taylor Swift. The blonde singer’s love of the fiery red pout is well-documented in an album called Red, as well as in her new song “Style”, in which she sings: “You’ve got that James Dean daydream look in your eyes, and I got that red lip classic thing that you like … We never go out of style.”
“Red lipstick can look quite classic,” agrees Wendy Rowe, “but if you wear it with sun-warmed skin and very simple make-up on the eyes, it suddenly becomes something modern.” The make-up maestro, who runs the scene backstage at every Burberry Prorsum show alongside CEO Christopher Bailey, has given the latest season’s girls gorgeous matt brick-red lips, leaving the skin polished to allow that glorious summer glow to shine through.