There is a conversation between high-school girls Tai and Cher in the 1995 film, Clueless, where Tai tells Cher that the reason why guys like college girls more is because they “wear less makeup on their face”. The guilt on Cher’s face is writ large because she likes to wear makeup. The earnestness of the girls makes the scene quite cute. But there is also something profound in the conversation, because somewhere within ourselves, this is a sentiment that most women can relate with: that if we wear too much makeup or look too “girly”, men won’t take us seriously.
Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie put this perfectly in her viral TED Talk ‘We should all be feminists’. She spoke about worrying what to wear the first time she taught a writing class in graduate school. She wanted to be taken seriously and hence decided to go for an ugly suit, instead of the lip gloss and girly skirt she really wanted to wear.
“Because the sad truth is that when it comes to appearance, we start off with man as the standard, as the norm,” she said. “If a man is getting ready for a business meeting, he doesn’t worry about looking too masculine and therefore not being taken for granted. If a woman has to get ready for a business meeting, she has to worry about looking too feminine, and what it says and whether or not she will be taken seriously.”
Today, beauty has gotten inextricably linked with notions of empowerment, political correctness, tolerance, and inclusiveness. The implication is this: An empowered woman will not give pre-eminence to looking beautiful. Isn’t that why Unilever was made to rename Fair & Lovely skin cream and acknowledge that the branding suggested “a singular ideal of beauty”? Isn’t that why Netflix chose to release a fashion-forward comedy on plus-size fashion? Isn’t that why we castigate K-beauty standards? And isn’t that why beauty pageants like the recently-concluded Femina Miss India 2024 regularly come under fire for ‘objectifying women’ and exalting outward appearance and unrealistic body standards?
Yet, beneath the simmering surface of “inclusive beauty” and despite all self-help mantras to “accept yourself however you look”, we all crave beauty. That’s why the beauty industry in India is projected to reach $34 billion by 2028. And why Ozempic as a weight loss drug enamoured Hollywood for so long. And why makeup tutorials proliferate on social media and why nearly 1.6 million cosmetic surgical procedures were performed in the US in 2023.
Beauty pageants only reinforce what we all know in our hearts: that appearance matters. It is not the way things should be, but it is the way things are. And maybe it is not a crime to want to look beautiful. If lipstick makes me look and feel the best version of myself, then it is not frippery, it is empowerment.