Adele pale and wan in soul-baring photo

UNTIL yesterday, I’d have said that Adele, celebrated songstress and voice of a thousand broken hearts, was one of those women so attached to her liquid eyeliner she probably slept in it.

Such is Adele’s dependence on lashings of lashes and lippy that her look can, at times, verge on the drag queen. Not that it matters – she has the sort of features that can more than carry it off and, besides, it works well with the melodramatic, full-throated, torchsong quality of her music.

There is something about her very graphic, highly dramatic style of make-up artistry – the heavy flick of black, the bold lips – that feeds her image of the tragic heroine, forever battling on despite the heartache. It’s part of what makes her an icon, one of the greatest divas of her generation.

Singer Amy Winehouse, in her own grungy, damaged way, espoused this kind of look – the exaggerated eyes and hair matching her own personal melodrama.

Madonna, Dusty Springfield, Liza Minnelli – they all wore make-up not so much to enhance their looks as a carapace, an armour, a defiant cri de coeur, a way of showing the world that however much they were crumbling inside, the façade of the edifice remained intact.

So seeing 28-year-old Adele bare-faced, bunged-up and blotchy, apologising wearily to ticket-holders in Phoenix, Arizona, for can- celling a concert on the second night of her world tour in a couple of pictures and a video on her Instagram page, has come as rather a shock.

“I’m so sorry to let you down,” she croaked. “I know lots of people will be flying in from all over the country and it is the last thing I want to do, but I have to look after myself.”

The video – I wouldn’t call it a performance, there can be no question she is feeling really ill – was shocking, not only because she looks so startlingly different from the Adele we are used to, but because her rawness is almost too much to bear. While many have accused her of “humble-bragging” – in other words, fishing for compliments in a “I may be riddled with a virus, running a fever and make-up free, but doesn’t my naked face still look somehow beautiful?” kind of way – but I, for one, don’t think that’s it. This is not the classic image of celebrity vanity, the so-called wake-up selfie, where the aim is to pretend you’ve only just opened your eyes when, in fact, you’ve been buffing and contouring for hours.

This is a woman who feels so lousy she doesn’t care how terrible she looks. And she does, undeniably, look terrible.

Nor do I think she’s swinging the lead: only someone who genuinely cannot get out of bed would be prepared to go to such lengths to prove she’s not just throwing a celebrity sickie.

But if her aim was to garner the sympathy of disappointed fans who might ordinarily accuse her of unprofessionalism, it’s certainly worked. Make-up free, she just looks so vulnerable, like a newborn baby panda, all pink and hairless. That is a woman who needs soup, lots of it, possibly intravenously. Of course, we forgive her.

A man could never pull off the same trick. It could not work, men don’t routinely wear make-up and, therefore, cannot leverage sympathy by appearing pale and wan without it.

But women have an advantage: most of the time, the world gets to see us with our slap on, especially in the professional arena. And so, on those rare occasions when we do show ourselves au naturel, people are horrified.

For example, if I ever venture into the office without my warpaint on, everyone – especially my male colleagues – professes concern. “You look exhausted,” they’ll say. “Are you sure you should be here?” Nine times out of 10, I’m not ill at all. I’ve just not had time to get the paints out.

It’s a useful trick to have up your sleeve, especially if you fancy a cheeky day off or just know you’ve messed up and want to look a little bit vulnerable. It’s the visual equivalent of putting on a sore throat over the phone.

A woman’s make-up is her battle cry. By appearing pale without her sweeping lashes and sparkling cheekbones, Adele is not only justifying her absence from the stage, but also waving a white flag. – Daily Mail