A unique, full-color compendium that celebrates and explores the
enduring power and allure of the world’s most iconic lip shade,
jam-packed with entertaining stories, anecdotes, little-known facts,
quotes, and more than 100 gorgeous images culled from fine art,
photography, and beauty and fashion editorial and advertising.
“Pour yourself a drink, put on some lipstick, and pull yourself together.” — Elizabeth Taylor
Lipstick
is the one makeup item most women can’t live without—and the most
iconic shade is red. Exuding power, sensuality, allure, and mystery, red
lips have been a constant of fashion for more than 5,000 years,
beginning with Mesopotamian women around 3500 B.C. Throughout the ages,
red lipstick has been a signature look worn by royalty, celebrities, and
real women across cultures and geography. In fact, nearly all women own
a tube of red lipstick, whether it’s the favorite shade they’ve been
wearing devotedly for years, or as beauty boost they use for special
occasions.
Filled with a show-stopping selection of images and
distinctively packaged—the size of a clutch, with a jacket printed with a
matte, velvet, red finish—Red Lipstick is the only cultural
history of this makeup essential available. Granted unprecedented access
to experts and the archives of revered brands like Chanel and Elizabeth
Arden, beauty writer Rachel Felder explores the origins and allure of
red lipstick and illuminates its association with aristocracy, sex
appeal, illicit sexuality, rebellion, power, glamour, fame, and beauty.
She also spotlights the fascinating array of women who have worn it
through the ages, including monarchs, suffragettes, flappers, working
women in World War II, first ladies, political leaders, geishas,
Hollywood sirens, rock and rollers, fashionistas, and more.
Inside
this enthralling book, you’ll discover why red lipstick makes women
more attractive to others (and the science behind it); tips on choosing
the most perfect shade of crimson; and a wealth of anecdotes,
quotations, select literary excerpts, and trivia, such as the shade
Carolyn Bessette Kennedy wore on her wedding day. Red Lipstick
is packed with a museum’s worth of fine art, including both Man Ray’s
photograph “Red Badge of Courage” and infamous painting “Les Amoreaux;”
lush, rarely seen vintage magazine advertisements from stalwart brands
like Guerlain and Dior; illustrations by renowned fashion illustrators
such as René Gruau, Daisy Villeneuve, and Bil Donovan; artists Dante
Gabriel Rossetti, Edgar Degas, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Wayne Thiebaud,
and Walt Kuhn; and images of famous red lipstick wearers including
Cleopatra, Queen Elizabeth II, Coco Chanel, Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe,
Audrey Hepburn, Madonna, Diana Vreeland, Rihanna, Paloma Picasso, and
many others.
With its captivating, chic design, beautiful selection of visuals, and engaging, entertaining text, Red Lipstick is a classic, like the perfect red lip shade itself.