Compacts and Cosmetics: Beauty from Victorian Times to the Present Day by Madeleine Marsh provides a brief history of both the U.K. and U.S. beauty industries from the 19th century through today. Sorted roughly by decade, the book features an abundance of photos depicting items from each period. It's an accessible, easy read that both beauty culture newbies and long-time fans alike would enjoy.
While I enjoyed the first chapter on beauty rituals in ancient Egypt and Greece, I thought the immense chronological jump from this period to Chapter Two (covering Victorian times) was a bit awkward. From there, however, the narrative flows nicely. Marsh sprinkles the text with choice anecdotes, noting the beginnings
of such familiar beauty brands such as Pond's, Maybelline and
U.K.-based Boots. She also includes some very helpful guidelines to
buying vintage makeup items in the appendix.
Where the author really shines, however, is in explaining how makeup went from being firmly in the realm of prostitutes/actresses in the 1880s to the huge business we know today. She does this by weaving in the broad cultural and political influences that affected how women used cosmetics as well as the type and packaging of the products themselves. For example, she traces how the rise of the film industry, which made actresses "more socially acceptable", flapper culture, and World War I all contributed to beauty's breakthrough as a regular part of most women's daily routines. By the 1930s, "the question was no longer whether to wear make-up at all, but what to choose from an ever-expanding range of products….women's magazines [started] featuring dedicated beauty columns providing tips and advice, whilst salons were offering an endless variety of services." (p. 88). And with the flurry of products introduced during these decades, packaging came to the fore. The rest of the chapters, each covering a decade from the 1940s through the aughts, similarly place beauty trends and products within a general cultural context, with plenty of pictures along the way. Most of these photos show items from Marsh's personal collection. Here are some of my favorites.
Art Deco compacts:
An Art Deco palette – what struck me about this is the fact that it includes products for lips, cheeks and eyes. I usually associate any vintage cosmetics with powder compacts, but this has a variety of products, similar to today's palettes.
Boots Christmas ad:
Compacts from the '40s and '50s – love the rotary telephone.
Getting psychedelic with Avon lipsticks and Mary Quant crayons from the late '60s. Groovy, man.
Bottom line: this is one of the most satisfying tomes on beauty history available, on par with Kathy Peiss's Hope in a Jar. Definitely one to buy!
Shu Uemura's cleansing oil was formulated in 1967 to remove all traces of makeup without irritating the skin. To celebrate the iconic product (one bottle is sold every seven seconds – fortunately, they're recyclable), the company collaborated with artist Tsuyoshi Hirano to create variations on the original bottle's "Unmask" design.
(image from facebook.com)
Aren't they gorgeous?
Here they are individually.
I also couldn't resist picking up the Unmask Green palette.
While the very knowledgeable Iris from Rouge Deluxe kindly pointed me to several sources on Hirano's work on my post containing the artist's previous collaboration with Shu on limited-edition cleansing oils and palettes for a travel-based collection, there was hardly anything in English, and what I copied into Google Translate made very little sense. So I will not be describing his aesthetic and oeuvre in detail. Instead, let's take a look at some vintage ads that express the idea of makeup as a mask. (Hence, cleansing oil as a way to "unmask".) I'm not going to debate whether perceiving or wearing makeup as a mask is a bad thing. I simply want to take a quick glance at the ways in which makeup-as-mask has been represented throughout beauty history.
There are several themes within the general topic of cosmetics as a mask: one, it's a way to hide imperfections that, when applied correctly, "defies detection" as the 1927 ad on the left shows – much the same way a masquerade-goer would be unidentifiable behind his or her mask. Makeup can also completely obfuscate one's face, as depicted in a Caron ad from 1937 presenting a porcelain mask as a "masque de beaute" (right).
This association between complete concealment and makeup is also expressed in this lithograph made for Revlon, where the woman's face is totally covered by a mask.
The second central theme is that makeup can add an air of mystery, as these ads for Guerlain's Masque Rouge (a lipstick based on their perfume of the same name) demonstrate.
Finally, this store display for Liquid Liptone, one of the first attempts at long-wearing lipstick, shows the artifice involved in applying makeup – the lips, once rouged, become part of an ostensibly false visage rather than a human face. (You can read the whole story behind the product and its creator "Princess Pat" here.)
What do you think of the Unmask collection? And do you like to "unmask" at night? I love applying my makeup, but I admit there's a great sense of relief when I take it off – it's like washing away all the responsibilities I associate with putting on my public face, and I can totally relax.
Ah, humble tweezers. Where would our brows be without them? While this beauty tool is a must for most women, its appearance, not to mention the actual work of tweezing, tends to be rather drab. To combat the tedium associated with shaping one's brows, over the years Tweezerman, the go-to company for this implement, has introduced many designs intended to up the tweezer ante.
Tweezerman was founded in 1980 by entrepreneur Dal LaMagna, who quickly realized that tweezers had a much bigger market in beauty rather than health (i.e., promoting tweezers to remove eyebrow hair rather than splinters). How did he come up with the company name? "One day he walked into an account with his Dal LaMagna Grooming
products (that was the name of his company originally) and the
receptionist yelled out, 'Hey, everybody, the Tweezerman is here!' And
the rest, as they say, is history." Part of the brand's success was due to catchy advertising such as billboards proclaiming, "We aim
to tweeze". Free tweezer sharpening is an excellent strategy as well.
More recently, Tweezerman has stayed competitive through the development of eye-catching designs that go beyond a range of colors. There's a plethora of prints, from animals to graffiti and pop art to holiday themes:
Tweezerman has also gotten into the designer-collaboration game. The first such partnership occurred in 2009 with Agatha Luiz de la Prada, known for her avant-garde prints.
I wonder what's up Tweezerman's sleeve for 2013! In any case, I always love seeing mundane objects taken to the next level through interesting and colorful designs – it makes dull tasks slightly less painful, and in turn, you feel a little special when you put the object to use. It may be silly, but I always feel a bit stylish and less boring when using my green croc print tweezers. 🙂
Which one of these is your favorite? Do you own any limited-edition Tweezermans?
Here's another museum to which I must make make a pilgrimage! In lieu of actually visiting, I've selected a few highlights from their collections. (Sorry the pictures are so small – not sure why they have such teeny pics).
Here is one of the original bottles of their best-selling skin treatment Euderline from 1897, along with a bottle of their camellia perfume from 1917. "The name Euderline was also novel for the time, taken from Greek words meaning 'good' (eu) and 'skin' (derma). The 'red wine' appearance of the lotion earned it the nickname 'Shiseido red water' among users."
Rainbow Face Color Powders (1917) were cutting-edge for their time, while the design on the box of the Modern Face Color Powders (1932) is a good representation of both fashionable young city ladies and the company's pre-war aesthetic. The Rainbow powders were among the first face powders to come in colors other than white, including yellow, rose, green and purple, to allow women to match their powder to their clothing. The Modern Face Color Powder box was designed by Yamana Ayao, and shows "a beautiful harmony of Art Nouveau and Art Deco elements."
The one on the left was desgined by Yabe Sue in 1925 and perfectly represents the Art Nouveau style, and the one on the right is from 1930 and depicts two women, one clad in an elaborate 18th-century French-looking frock and the other in a traditional Japanese kimono. The meaning is unclear – is there a rivalry going on between East and West or is Shiseido showing their attempt to bridge the gap between their customers living in those two spheres?
These next two are from 1938 and 1961. The earlier one, designed by Yamamoto Takeo, looks vaguely surreal to me with the woman's profile seemingly floating amongst Magritte-esque clouds. But according to the website, "the poster is from the period around the 1930s when Shiseido's chain stores began using display windows. The Shiseido designers from this period were successful in creating images of feminine beauty that anticipated the changing times, and contributed greatly to bolstering the Shiseido image. The later one was designed by Mizuno Takashi and is from the company's first "campaign-style promotion" for a new line called Candy Tone.
Some other highlights of the permanent collection include an entire wall showing the evolution of the brand's packaging:
And a display showing how the typeface and camellia logos also changed over time:
Something else that I love about this museum (and something that I try to do with the Makeup Museum) is the launching of special exhibitions. In 2009 the museum showed "The Pleasures of Colors: Shiseido Paint Sets" which looked at the crayons, paints and other art implements the company produced for a brief period in the late 1950s. But these weren't makeup items aimed at women – these were art sets intended for children in order to introduce them to drawing and painting. "These included a string of ground-breaking new products that helped to guide Japan's new art education, and many featured charming packaging that encouraged children to try their hands at pictorial art. This exhibition highlights how well these colors have retained their bright appeal over time, and explores how they contributed to a next generation of education in Japan."
The current special exhibition is devoted to lipstick called "The Excitement of Lipstick: Color, Form, Spirit." Here's the description from the website: "Lipstick can be considered the most striking and important element of women's makeup. Even just a little bit of lip coloring can lend an “adult” sophistication to the face of a child, bring an air of specialness to an otherwise ordinary day, give rise to numerous and various female expressions, and even embolden the spirit. This exhibition, with its display spaces reminiscent of show windows, presents these appealing aspects of lipstick in various visual and entertaining ways.
The exhibition is organized around three themes—Lipstick Colors, Lipstick Shapes, and Lipstick & Spirit—and will focus on the beauty of lipstick itself while exploring some of the unseen relationships women have with this essential of the makeup kit. It will also include some hands-on displays where visitors can explore the enjoyment of lipstick experientially, including a corner for trying on various lipstick shades and computerized tablet stations where visitors can simulate applying their own makeup." (Note to self: steal this idea.)
Shiseido's been rolling out new products and doing lots of events in honor of their 140th anniversary this year. To add to the celebration, the company released this lovely camellia highlighting/blush compact.
With flash:
The Shiseido Corporate Museum (more on that tomorrow) hosted an exhibition on the company's use of the camellia. "In 1915, Shiseido's first president Shinzo Fukuhara replaced the hawk emblem trademark used by the company's original pharmacy business with a camellia blossom. Ever since, this camellia trademark has been closely and fondly associated with Shiseido as a company. What does the camellia mean for the Japanese people? What does it mean for Shiseido? As the camellias came into bloom to welcome Shiseido's 140th anniversary this year, the year's first planned exhibition considered the history of the Japanese people's relationship with the camellia, and looked back on the history of the company's camellia-related products and designs using the camellia motif." I would have given my right arm to see this exhibition, but Japan is a long way off for a quick museum visit! Fortunately, at their website Shiseido fills us in a little bit as to the meaning of the flower for their brand. "When the company was known as a pharmacy, its trademark was a brave hawk, but when it shifted its focus to cosmetics, it was thought that the stern image of a hawk was unsuitable. It is said that the camellia was chosen because the best-selling product was Koyu Hanatsubaki (hair oil; Hanatsubaki is Japanese for camellia). At that time, trademarks in Japan were typically traditional patterns from ancient family crests, but the Western design of the camellia mark was a great novelty. The camellia trademark was designed by the company's first president, Shinzo Fukuhara. The original nine camellia leaves were reduced to seven by the Design Department staff. In 1918 its design was near today's, and in 1919 the trademark was registered. Many small changes have been made since, and in 1974 the present design was decided on."
Additionally, there was once something called the Camellia Club – a membership service for loyal Shiseido customers that was launched in 1937. Club members received exclusive pamphlets and invitations to beauty classes. The biggest spenders received commemorative gifts – I'm thinking this is sort of like Sephora's VIB program in which customers can become "VIBs" after spending $350 in a given year. "The first year's gift was an art deco metal vanity case, the following year's was a Nishijin handbag, and in following years continued with ceramic sash clips and other luxurious items." While I enjoy the more modern perks of today's membership programs (free samples, discount codes, etc.), receiving keepsakes from the company sounds great to a collector like me.
Stay tuned for more on the history of Shiseido tomorrow, when I will highlight some pieces from their museum.
I'm still trying to figure out why I didn't visit this museum when I was in London last year! I'm not sure whether the cosmetics are actually on display, but the Museum of London has a lovely online collection of late 19th-century and 20th century beauty artifacts. Here are a few of my favorites, in rough chronological order.
First is this electric face massager from around 1908-1912. At first glance it seems ridiculous that women back then would actually be rubbing this on their faces in the hopes of reducing wrinkles, but really, is it so different from the contraptions we have now? Thousands of women today (myself included), make use of the Clarisonic electric cleansing brush, which is essentially our generation's version of this face massager (although the Clarisonic is for deep cleansing rather than wrinkle reduction).
Up next is this incredibly charming "sunbathing powder", or what we know today as bronzer. I wish a company would come up with packaging as cute as this for bronzer! I adore the bathing suits. This object was manufactured some time between 1921 and 1950.
I was fascinated by this WWII-era face powder because while it was made during the war, the design looks more 1920s rather than the 40s. According to the museum website, "A note on the box states that it contains
the same amount of powder as the original pre-war boxes.
Make-up was not rationed during the war, but it was extremely scarce.
This face powder would have been highly sought-after." Could you imagine makeup being difficult to purchase?!
Finally, we have one of the earliest examples of an attempt at cosmetics containing "natural" ingredients: Mary Quant foundation. This is from the 1970s and contained honey, almond oil and wheatgerm oil. I like the vintage apothecary vibe of the jar, from its shape to the font – reminds me of C.O. Bigelow.
So what do you think of these? Which one is your fave?
As I write this, I'm wearing Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream nail polish (shown above – excuse the messy cuticles!) I bought it in part because it's so pretty but mostly for the name. I touched briefly on my lifelong love of mermaids last year, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. When I was little, I had the movie Splash memorized verbatim, and I begged my mom to make me a mermaid costume for Halloween that copied Madison's awesome red and gold tail exactly. When adults asked me when I wanted to be when I grew up, instead of giving a normal answer like a doctor or teacher, I immediately responded, "A mermaid!" I thought my obsession had abated as I grew older, but the themes of this year's summer collections brought it back full-force – along with the Animal Planet special on whether mermaids exist (I was completely mesmerized by it). So I wanted to follow up on the lure of the mermaid by rounding up their appearances in beauty packaging and advertising.
Anna Sui released these delightful bags and blotting sheets in 2010.
(images from global.rakuten.com)
The brand then launched the Glittering Mermaid collection last year (how this slipped through my radar is beyond me – I would have been all over this!) I especially adore the pedicure kits, which are housed in tins featuring frolicking mermaids.
(website images from harajuju.tumblr.com and kaboodle.com, eye gloss image from cloverbeautyinn.blogspot.com, tin image from hittingthepan.onsugar.com)
Anna Sui isn't the only company to make use of these mythical creatures in their packaging. Here are some more examples.
Mermaids also loom large in beauty advertising, dating all the way back to the early 20th century.
Ad for bath salts:
(image from timespastshop.com)
LancĂ´me, 1956:
(image from hprints.com)
I particularly enjoyed these ads for Dusharme hair cream, which the company branded the "pearl" of hair creams – it's interesting to see the mermaid illustrations change over time. From 1954 and 1956:
1959 and 1961:
(images from ebay.com)
I was tipped off to Ducharme from the blog The Lost City of Atlanta, which, if you love mermaids you really need to check out. Not only does it reference one of my favorite Futurama episodes, it's chock full of mermaid-related information, from ads to historic accounts of mermaid sightings to fashion. It hasn't been updated since last year but I'm hoping the author will start writing again!
Anyway, oddly enough, mermaids were also used to sell hair products to men. Funny how in 1934 "water's bad for [his] hair", but by 1969 hair gel that was "activated" by water was the way to go.
(images from ebay.com)
Mermaids were popular for suntan lotions and potions, as in these Dorothy Gray and Guerlain ads from 1947 and 1939, respectively:
(images from hprints.com)
Some contemporary examples mermaids in beauty advertising are this 2011 catalog from beautyhabit.com (which appeared in the summer exhibition) and this postcard for MAC's 2006 Lure collection:
And, of course, some pop tarts couldn't resist dressing as mermaids to hawk products:
(images from stylefrizz.com and ontheredcarpet.com)
But perhaps the most intriguing (and certainly most elusive) image of mermaids comes from a Stila paint can that was released to celebrate the opening of their counters in Copenhagen, which, as you may know, is home to the Little Mermaid statue in honor of Hans Christian Andersen's book. It was a mermaid rendered in Stila girl style and I can't remember the color of her tail, but I think she had blonde hair. I have looked high and low for a picture of this paint can and have come up with nothing, though I KNOW I saw it many years ago. But perhaps, like mermaids themselves, this Stila can is just a figment of the imagination. It makes me sad for 2 reasons: one, this paint can might not actually exist, and two, it means I'm completely losing my mind.
Some questions for you: Do you like mermaids? If so, did you watch the Animal Planet special? Which of the items/ads above is your favorite?
Some very exciting beauty-related exhibitions have been cropping up! First up, Shiseido had a two-day exhibition in honor of its 140th (!!) anniversary at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris this past weekend. The exhibition is called Un Trait Plus Loin ("A Streak Further", I think) and features beautifully designed ads from a range of time periods.
A few highlights:
(images from blog.birchbox.com, ca.fashionmag.com and luckymag.com)
They hung some of the ads from lanterns, which is unique but doesn't necessarily allow a close look.
(image from beautylish.com)
In conjunction with their anniversary, Shiseido is selling a limited-edition bottle of its Eudermine facial lotion with the original design from 1897. And if you buy that, you'll also receive limited-edition blotting papers designed by Ayao Yamana, "a legendary Shiseido designer from the 60s and 70s." I must admit I am tempted!
While I do love me some vintage makeup ads, there was an exhibition in Hong Kong that sounded even more amazing. "An Ode to the Complexion: The Art of Skincare and Beauty Objects from the 18th Century to the Present", devoted to Guerlain items and other treasures, opened at shopping mall Pacific Place on May 23rd. It was brought to my attention by my mother, who tore out the ad for it she spotted in a travel magazine during her recent two-week trip to China and Hong Kong. How fortuitous! I don't think I ever would have known about it otherwise and it just happened to be going on while she was there (unfortunately she didn't have time to check it out).
(click to enlarge)
What's really awesome about this exhibition is that it offered makeup demonstrations to recreate looks from the different decades of the 20th century. Such a great idea, I will definitely steal it. 🙂
Most of the items were powder boxes and compacts, and belong to two French collectors, Anne Camilli and Jean-Marie Martin Hattemberg (Hattemberg is the author of Lips of Luxury).
(images from frenchmay.com)
(images from butterboom.com)
Some real-life pictures. Not to toot my own horn, but I think the labels I create for my exhibitions are a little more informative and visually appealing.
I'm a little shocked at the care for these objects, or lack thereof. I can't be 100% sure from the pictures, but it looks like there are no protectors on top of the open powders, thereby exposing them to dust. The horror! I mean, I don't put the plastic coverings on top of my items since they're only open for a few minutes while I photograph them for exhibitions, but if my items were to be in an official exhibition sitting out for days or weeks, I would demand some type of clear covering so as to protect the powder.
The exhibition also included lipsticks. It's an interesting way to display them – I always have the lipsticks upright in my exhibitions, but to have them all laying down in neat little rows is a good way to do it too.
(image from allmadeup-nowheretogo.blogspot.com)
As you can imagine, I was really excited about these two exhibitions. I hope to see more of them, and maybe they will be in the U.S. so I might actually have a chance of seeing them! And of course, maybe curate a few of my own exhibitions. 🙂
I was browsing the Metropolitan Museum of Art's ancient cosmetic collection and I couldn't help but notice how similar the design of some of the pieces were to today's makeup. Sure, the ingredients have vastly improved and technology has advanced, but the basic design for some objects remains the same. I thought I'd share a few examples.
(top row images from metmuseum.org, bottom row images from newjuless.blogspot.com, nordstrom.com and sephora.com)
2. Cosmetic boxes with drawers
I always thought palettes with sliding drawers were pretty cool – they're like jewelry boxes but with makeup. These boxes in the top row of the picture below (all Egyptian) are made of wood and have compartments for storing various cosmetics. The middle one is from the tomb of an artist and dates from 1279-1213 B.C., while the more elaborate one on the right dates from 1814–1805 B.C. and was found with a mirror and 4 ointment jars. Today, we have Lorac's Private Affair palette, Urban Decay's Book of Shadows, and Bobbi Brown's Holiday 2011 palette, all of which feature drawers reminiscent of their ancestors.
(top row images from metmuseum.org, bottom row images from sephora.com, ragingrouge.com and bobbibrowncosmetics.com)
3. Makeup bags
The Met also has an ancient leather pouch meant to store cosmetic implements. While most makeup bags today are rarely made of leather, (companies tend to opt for nylon or plastic), some brands employ faux leather to give a more luxe feel. Case in point: Bobbi Brown's Chrome brush kit from 2009.
(images from metmuseum.org and amazon.com)
I find it so interesting that certain design principles for cosmetic tools from thousands of years ago still exist today, albeit in more technologically advanced ways.
Which item from the Met shown here is your favorite?
So exciting! There's a new beauty exhibit at the Center for History in South Bend, Indiana called "Gizmos, Corsets & Concoctions: Our Obsession with Health & Beauty." From the website: "Gizmos, Corsets & Concoctions: Our Obsession with Health & Beauty explores some of what has been experienced over time in the pursuit of health and beauty. Seeking to look or feel better, people have willing to imbibe, don and endure many interesting cure-alls throughout the years. A wide variety of medicinal and cosmetic offerings have been available, some hawked by fast-talking peddlers and others provided by highly respected institutions. Whether looking for better health, treatment for ailments, or transformation into the current pinnacle of beauty, people have turned to medical sources, even the 'magic potions' of sideshows. Some did the trick; others caused more harm than good."
The exhibit contains beauty ads from the 19th and 20th centuries, contraptions like a "permanent wave" hair-styling machine from the '30s, and even a replica of a doctor's office with elixirs and tonics. Too bad I'm not going to Indiana any time soon! I'd love to see it.
Compacts and Cosmetics: Beauty from Victorian Times to the Present Day by Madeleine Marsh provides a brief history of both the U.K. and U.S. beauty industries from the 19th century through today. Sorted roughly by decade, the book features an abundance of photos depicting items from each period. It's an accessible, easy read that both beauty culture newbies and long-time fans alike would enjoy. 
