A Game of Cluedo

A Game of Cluedo
A Game of Cluedo, Tatler Magazine

Thursday 9 June 2011

BEAUTY CAMPAIGNS THROUGH THE AGES

Retro images that captured an era

More than just marketing magic and kitsch catchphrases, beauty campaigns have documented the changes in women's lives throughout the 20th century - from 1940s wartime austerity and 1950s aspiration, through to sexual liberation, equality and a more diverse attitude to beauty. We've delved into the archives to bring you this retrospective of some of our favourite beauty campaigns from times gone by.

CHANEL, 1921
Before the wide-spread use of photography, illustration was a popular form of artisitc expression. This whimsical illustration shows a flapper girl lusting after Chanel No. 5 perfume, one of the first advertising the now-iconic fragrance.


MAYBELLINE, 1930S
This 1930s advert for Maybelline products promises that women of every age can have perfect skin.


SAVAGE, 1935
A dramatic art deco image to promote Savage blusher - priced at just ten cents.
REVLON, 1950S
A glamorous campaign for liquid make-up, promising to "turn the clock back 5 years".


REVLON, 1953
Revlon's iconic Cherries in the Snow shade was launched with this advert in 1953 featuring one of the world’s first supermodels, Dorian Leigh. Its sense of fantasy, opulence and escape from everyday domesticity made the brand popular with 1950s housewives.


MAX FACTOR, 1967
Max Factor invents new words with this psychedelic lipstick campaign.


YARDLEY, 1967
Famous for her statement lashes, Twiggy became the face of Yardley's falsies.


REVLON, 1970S
Revlon's Charlie Girl is the brand's most famous perfume, launched in 1973. The fragrance personified the independent woman of the 1970s, and the advert was the first perfume ad to feature a woman wearing trousers.
http://www.stylist.co.uk/resource/cache/binary/86c67b5f8669d8d2799e9da15ea0d214/350x500_Ad_2.jpg?m=1307115550

CHANEL, 1970S
Chanel has long had chic women as the face of Chanel No 5. Here Catherine Deneuve fronts the campaign - Nicole Kidman and Audrey Tautou would later follow in her footsteps.


YVES SAINT LAURENT, 1977
YSL's Opium caused a stir with its controversial name and brought accusations that brand designer Yves Saint Laurent was condoning drug use. The same perfume came under fire in the 1990s for the controversial ad with a naked Sophie Dahl.

MAYBELLINE, 1991
Supermodel Christy Turlington features in this campaign for Illegal Lashes mascara.

CHRISTIAN DIOR, 1993
An now-iconic image advertising Dior's Rouge lipstick and nail polish.


For a more detailed view of this article got to www.stylist.co.uk or pick up issue 81 of Stylist Magazine.

Saturday 4 June 2011

Women at Work

Banker Deemed Too Sexy For Her Job
Anna North — Debrahlee Lorenzana says she was fired from Citibank because her beauty was "too distracting" for her male colleagues. Her story is a disturbing example of discrimination in a male-dominated workplace — but also of girl-on-girl crime.
Working women can get caught in a double bind when it comes to proper attire, admonished on the one hand not to look too sexy and on the other not to be too dressed-down or masculine. Lorenzana's complaints about her time as a business banker at Citibank sound like a perfect illustration of this problem. The Village Voice's Elizabeth Dwoskin writes,
She was told not to wear fitted business suits. She should wear makeup because she looked sickly without it. (She had purposefully stopped wearing makeup in hopes of attracting less attention.) Once, she recalls, she came in to work without having blow-dried her hair straight-it is naturally curly-and [branch manager Craig] Fisher told a female colleague to pass on a message that she shouldn't come into work without straightening it.
She was also told, according to a lawsuit that she's filed, that "she should not wear classic high-heeled business shoes, as this purportedly drew attention to her body in a manner that was upsetting to her easily distracted male managers." But when she brought flip-flops to the office to move some heavy files, she was instructed to switch back to heels. After complaining about her treatment, Lorenzana was transferred, and then fired. She alleges that many women at Citibank dressed in a more provocative fashion, but that she was singled out "as a result of the shape of her figure." Because of the mandatory-arbitration clause in her contract (we've heard about such clauses before), her suit will go before an arbitrator, not a judge.
If Lorenzana's account is accurate, then it seems like a clear case of discrimination. It's also a reminder that holding women responsible for the way men react to their bodies is just as common in the West as it is in the Middle East. But the Voice's coverage of the story reveals another disturbing angle: the way women critique and police each other's looks. Lorenzana herself responded to her harassment by criticizing other women's attire: "If you want to talk about inappropriate clothes, go downstairs and look at some of the tellers!" In a letter to HR, she explicitly compared herself to her female coworkers, saying they "were able to wear such clothing because they were short, overweight, and they didn't draw much attention, but since I was five-foot-six, 125 pounds, with a figure, it wasn't 'appropriate.'" And describing the cultural underpinnings of her personal style, she says, "Where I'm from, women dress up — like put on makeup and do their nails — to go to the supermarket. And I'm not talking trashy, you know, like in the Heights."
It makes sense that Lorenzana would want to show she wasn't dressing less "appropriately" than other women, and since she was under attack, it's perhaps not surprising that she didn't do so in the most gracious manner. But more strange is the Voice's salacious take on the whole thing. In her opener, Dwoskin writes:
Everything about Debrahlee Lorenzana is hot. Even her name sizzles. At five-foot-six and 125 pounds, with soft eyes and flawless bronze skin, she is J.Lo curves meets Jessica Simpson rack meets Audrey Hepburn elegance-a head-turning beauty. [...] But when she got fired last summer from her job as a banker at a Citibank branch in Midtown-her bosses cited her work performance-she got even hotter.
Dwoskin closes in a similar vein, speculating that the case's arbitrator might "be too distracted by Lorenzana to focus on the evidence." Clearly she's trying to be light-hearted, but ogling Lorenzana in print the way her coworkers apparently did in life does a disservice to the seriousness of her discrimination claims. Then there are the comments. One Mary Artemis writes,
Well, I think it is time to recognize that we need to dress appropriately as women. If we dress to show off the curves, it may not be seen as conducive to business. I think it's just a mature attitude and acceptance. I, myself, as a woman, understand this.
Commenter Charmian Neary responds, ""Mary Artemis", who commented on this article, is a perfect example of the sad fact that women often are willing, even eager, participants in creating a "hostile" environment for an employee who is perceived as receiving more than her share of attention, even if that attention is unwelcome." But this argument runs perilously close to "they're just jealous." Rather than accusing commenters and coworkers alike of personal resentment, it would be more productive to ask why women, too, tend to internalize patriarchal workplace culture and all its injustices. My guess is this has less to do with coveting attention, and more to do with the feeling that playing by the boys' rules is the only way to get ahead. Neary's closing words, however, are spot-on:

If "curves" are not conducive to "business", its because "business" tends to perpetuate the primacy of men and their values — and men don't have curves. Apparently dicks are conducive to business however — as quite a few work at Citibank.

Image via Village Voice.

Make Up gets Noticed in the Boardroom


In the third of our extracts from her book, Drop Dead Brilliant, Lesley Everett discusses make-up and grooming.
It is a fact that women who wear make-up in business generally get better jobs, get promoted more quickly and get paid more. Whether we like it or not, we live in a very visual world and we get judged on appearances.
In fact, in a survey, 64 per cent of directors said that women who wore make-up look more professional and 18 per cent of directors said that women who do not wear make-up “look like they can’t be bothered to make an effort”.
Most of us love to see a perfectly made-up face, but many women still wear little if any make-up for business or stick to the same colours and techniques they have used for the past ten years.
I recommend visiting an image consultant or beauty therapist for a make-up lesson if you are stuck in a rut. Take along your make-up bag and revamp it. Make-up does have a shelf life, so if you have products that have been there for years, discard them.

How to look the business
Dress to impress. First impressions are vital in job interviews and what you wear is important, but it dosn't end at attention to sartorial detail
Cufflinks, colour and collars will get you noticed
Small touches can create a big impression
Men also need to consider make-up, which is something they should be aware of for diminishing minor skin imperfections that could be distracting. Foundation or base make-up should be considered if your skin tone is uneven or blotchy, and certainly if you are presenting under bright lights or making a TV appearance. Always apply your base after a moisturiser. Choose a colour close to your natural skin tone and you will give your skin a healthy and natural appearance.
Don’t try to create a tan with foundation, it will just look false. Try a tinted moisturiser instead if you feel you are looking a little pale. Meanwhile, concealers will diminish the appearance of blemishes and conceal dark patches around the eyes.
Men also need to pay careful attention to grooming: dark and bushy eyebrows can look intimidating if they are too thick and if they meet in the middle. Keep the area between the eyebrows clear by plucking and, if you cannot bear to do it yourself, visit a salon.
Facial hair has long been considered a potential blight on career advancement; a survey suggests that 60 per cent of businessmen without beards or moustaches feel that these features are a bad sign. Some feel that the person can’t be bothered to shave and others that they are hiding something.
Overall, remember the way that you dress is the packaging of your personal brand; whether you like it or not, you will be judged on your appearance.

Drop Dead Brilliant by Lesley Everett (McGraw-Hill)

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