Bold in Red

Red lipstick is adorned by women across the globe and remains a staple in every makeup lover's cosmetic collection. Symbolizing passion, audacity, determination, strength, and seductive charm, it boasts various shades that universally uplift spirits. Its ability to disrupt established norms has even made it an emblem of rebellion and patriotism, transcending mere beauty and seduction.

Elsa Hosk via Vogue Scandinavia

The Birth of Red Lipstick

It would seem to date back as far as 2500 B.C., in Mesopotamia. At the time, Pu-Abi was the queen of the city of Ur: it was she who first, to highlight her beauty and noble status, began to brighten her lips with a mixture of pigments deriving from red rocks and lead. This practice became usual among the nobles, and also among anyone who wanted to underline their high social status. The same habit was later adopted by Egyptian queens, above all Cleopatra. In the Roman Empire, however, coloring lips red was a genderless gesture: both men and women used the purpurissum to highlight their status. In Ancient Greece, however, red lipstick had a completely different meaning: it was in fact the color used only by prostitutes to immediately demonstrate their profession.

During the Middle Ages

Thanks to the hunt for heretics and witches, in this phase, red lipstick was associated with an overly exuberant and therefore dangerous personality. Together with the red color of hair, it began to identify "the sign of the devil" on a person, because red was considered by the Church to be the color of the devil. To avoid trouble, common women could only wear pink shades; only aristocratic women were allowed a brighter pink. From that moment on, red lipstick became the "cosmetic of sin". In the second half of the 1500s, Queen Elizabeth I, sovereign of England and Ireland, intervened to rehabilitate red lipstick: she wore it with pride and charm. Unfortunately, however, with the establishment of the puritanical Queen Victoria, red lipstick was once again labeled as vulgar and unworthy.

From 1800 to 1900

Vermillion on the lips was still used in small circles, in secret. The theater actress Sarah Bernhardt was the first to wear it in public, bringing it back into the limelight. It so happened that, at the beginning of the 1900s, it began to be considered a real makeup product for every woman: Roger & Gallet produced the first lipstick. And it was then with Elizabeth Arden (founder of the prestigious brand that we all know), that red lipstick was elected as a symbol of the feminist battles in New York, in 1912. This feminist movement, composed of women called Suffragettes, led to a rebellion against the excessive male predominance in society; from then on, attention began to be drawn to equal civil and political rights, but the extraordinary thing was that every event was accompanied by the inevitable presence of red lipstick. In fact, all the Suffragettes wore fiery red lipstick, with the aim of destabilizing and drawing attention. Elizabeth Arden helped them in this battle: it seems that she herself took to the streets with the demonstrators, giving her iconic Red Door Red to all the women who passed along Fifth Avenue.

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Nazi-Fascist Period

From 1922 to 1945 in Europe, red lips were labeled as too libertine and sexy. Adolf Hitler himself considered the face without makeup as the true essence of Aryan purity, thus placing red lipstick on his blacklist. However, some women, to rebel against Nazism and fascism, began to wear it as a sign of protest. This form of revolt even reached the USA, where, for the duration of the Second World War, wearing red lipstick was mandatory for women enlisted in the US army. The U.S. Government asked Elizabeth Arden to create a lipstick that could coordinate with the red edges of the Marines' uniforms: from there, Victory Red was born, accompanied by the Montezuma Red nail polish shade. It was a great social success, from which came the success in fashion and the cosmetics industry. In fact, in that period, the first iconic red lipsticks were born: alongside the mentioned Victory Red, Helena Rubinstein created Regimental Red, and Cyclax produced the Auxiliary Red shade.

From the End of the Second World War to the Present Day

Red lipstick has seen ever-increasing success. The most important women in show business have shown it off with elegance and provocation: from Marilyn Monroe to Betty Page and Liz Taylor. But even female politicians have not been outdone: Margaret Thatcher at the time, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez today, have shown it off on several occasions, thus reconciling aesthetic taste with civil commitment.

© Sukita / The David Bowie Archive

In the 1970s, punk rockers once again popularized red lipstick as a symbol of rebellion: it was easy to see it worn by artists like David Bowie, who loved to wear painted lips.

"Today, red lipstick stands for more than female emancipation; it's also a symbol of fluid identity, embodying the freedom to be oneself, as Harry Styles once remarked."

Not to forget the events of 2018 in Nicaragua, where men and women painted their lips red in protest, with the aim of facilitating the release of all unjustly imprisoned anti-government protesters. Marlen Chow was the woman who most embodied the protest, wearing beautiful red lips even in the most difficult situations.

And in 2019, the color red was made the “manifesto” of protest in Chile: countless women protested in the squares, wearing a blindfold and lipstick on their lips. Again, the goal of the protest was of vital importance: to focus the world's attention on the ever-increasing cases of rape and violence.

The extraordinary history of red lipstick makes us understand at what level we must place this essential element of current makeup today. We refer to concepts such as strength, justice, courage, emancipation, freedom, independence, rebellion, patriotism, passion, seduction, audacity, romance, prestige, and social commitment. All contained in a single color and its shades. And here Coco Chanel's words appear to us in all their strength: "If you are sad, if you have a sentimental problem, put on makeup, put red lipstick on your lips and attack!"