(Upbeat music) - Hello, my beautiful doves. Do you notice anything different? I've moved into a new apartment
just two days ago actually. Which is why there is like nothing here. But I finally have a
Brooklyn exposed brick wall, which I'm super excited about it, like... Also exciting news, it's fricking snowing! Actually, I don't want to
show you all where I live, so you'll just have to trust me. And I'm sick, which is why I sound a little nasally. If you're a first time watcher, I don't normally sound like this, but I don't have COVID,
I just have a cold. But we're still here, we're
still powering through because I have an exciting
video for you guys today. We're going to be talking
about Harry Styles. Well kind of, not really. Harry Styles has released
a beauty brand recently. I don't know if you've all heard of it, it's called Pleasing. I think he's planning to expand
it because I saw on Twitter, they were posting about
new crew neck sweaters that the brand was releasing. But so far on the website,
you can buy three products, a nail polish and two different
skin, skincare serums. The brand has garnered
lots of attention so far because it's Harry Styles. But also because of its
gender inclusive marketing. Love or hate Harry, I think this brand makes
total sense for him. Over the years, he's balanced both
masculine and feminine looks and you know, I think he will
show up in future textbooks right next to David Bowie and Prince. So let's address the elephant in the room, get that over with. I know some people may think
that Harry is queer beating or taking up too much
space as a white man. But honestly, I don't think
he's doing anything wrong. Like he's just living his truth, I don't think his sexuality
should be up for debate, because that is a personal identifier and its something that should
be none of our business, if he doesn't wanna make our business. And also if he is straight, well you know straight men
should be embracing feminine more because like that's the whole point right? We wanna break down toxic masculinity. Can you tell I live in New York? And while I think there are plenty QPOC who deserve way more attention than Harry, especially in the beauty
and fashion genre, its not really Harry's
fault that the media is obsessed with him. But we'll get more into
gender inclusive, beauty in a little bit. For today's video I wanna
talk about you know, how we got here. How the Victorian's try to
squash the makeup industry, how advertising resurrected
it in the 20th century. How makeup can actually
be a form of rebellion, and whether or gender inclusive marketing is actually as progressive as people say. Lets dive in after this commercial break. Thank you Scentbird for
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get 30% off your first month at Scentbird, which is $11. If you weren't around, 18th century European court
life was full of women and men wearing the most bizarre, most
exaggerating makeup looks. Complete with oddly shaped
mouches and big, big wigs. Especially in France. Yes! The make up wearing
was often dangerous, made of lead and mercury, but hey, everyone rich was having fun. Why did we ever leave
such a wonderful time? I guess you can partially
blame the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was a
philosophical movement, that championed democracy,
progress and liberty. It was a movement that started
early on the 17th century that culminated and revolutioned by the end of the 18th century
in American and France. So one of the most essential aspects of the Enlightenment project
was transparency of meaning in texts, behaviors and self presentation. As Morag Martin says in
her book, "Selling Beauty," "The goal was to illuminate
what had previously been hidden and to simplify what had previously been overdone. The word plays, innuendos and
masked balls of the Old Regime were replaced by frank
discussions, honest emotions and polite soirees." This ideology will
literal take a firm shape in Victorian society, where beauty was not dictated
by frills and cosmetics, but by inner beauty. Which is was a natural moral
quality that cannot be bought. Cosmetic critics also felt
that by allowing women to wear makeup was
essentially allowing women to choose what face they wore in public. Which was unacceptable. Patricia Phillipy argued, "That the painted woman was threatening because she claimed a creative
and self creative authority ordinarily reserved for men." People took the view that a
woman's physical appearance was a manifestation of
her inner qualities. So a good woman was pretty
and bad woman was ugly. They believed that bad skin for instance, was never a genetic thing that
people had no control over. But a physical manifestation of vices like drinking, sex and gambling. And by wearing makeup a woman could lie about her virtue. - Good for her. - And 200 years later, mens still believe that
makeup allow women to lie, hence all those memes, about taking a woman
swimming on the first date, to see what her actual face looks like. But in the late 18th century, man were not spared from criticism either. Though admittedly Martin notes that only a minority of men wore rouge. So criticism against men
did not have the same social residences as criticism against women. The French writer,
Louise-Antoine Caracccioli, complained about how
fops or 'petits maitres', sorry French people, would spend hours grooming
themselves every day. He viewed this significant amount of times spent in front the mirror
as wasteful and disgraceful. Especially for men of high distinction. Critics were also concerned that men who wore too much makeup would eventually become
indistinguishable from women. J.C. Flugel, who inverted the term, the Great Masculine Renunciation in 1930, blames the French Revolution
as solidifying the roles of men and women. Making men into unwilling
voyeurs and women into objects. Rather the leisure, heritage and artifice, the new man's worth was dictated by respectability, hard work
and capital accumulation. Revolutionary also pushed for a universal male uniform that would
link men across class lines. The uniform never did become popular. But is it a coincident
that the 3 piece suit, has become a symbol of
men's respectability. There are some holes to
consider in this theory. For instance, a writer
Anne Hollander argues that the man's suit,
sexulize the man's body allowing men to still engage
in objectifying themselves. But regardless of what you
think the meaning of the suit is its commonly understood
that the Enlightenment played a huge power in denouncing all the excess and
hoopla that was once part of the men side of the royal court. Some of you may be wondering when I talk about Beau Brummell. If you don't know who Beau Brummell is, a lot of people like to
complain about Beau Brummell and use him as a scapegoat for basically everything
wrong with men's fashion these days. There was this one
Twitter thread from 2019 that got kind of popular, where the person tweeting made
some pretty bold statements about Beau Brummell, single
handedly shifting men's fashion from this to this. This was a super over simplification. Men's fashion was already
going down this trajectory, because of the Enlightenment. This beautiful fashion that
we love through today's lens, was a symbol of aristocracy and royalty. And was look down upon during
and after the Revolution. Beau Brummell was basically
this early trendsetter in the 1790's who liked suits. And sure he didn't wear
flashy colors or makeup but I hardly think he's
to blame for the bore, that is men's fashion today. Like he wore cravats, and he
actually care about grooming. During his time there
were all these stories being spread around London, about how he would send his
linens off the country side, to get washed so that when they
came back to him in London, they will smell of
fresh field and flowers. Other people claimed
he had 3 hairdressers. One for the temple region of his hair. One for the front and one for the back. That doesn't sound like
a 21st century man to me. So by the Victorian era,
obvious makeup was no go for everyone. Some dandies they go all
out, dying their hair, growing elaborate beards and mustaches. Women on the nother hand,
had to be a little bit more discreet with their cosmetic practices. Because they (whisper) women. In today's society a lot of beauty critics talk about how makeup is insidious and damaging for people's self esteem. And also forces us to
prioritize how we look. And change your natural features, in order to be treated better in society. And I do think that's somewhat true. But makeup hasn't always been
like, this direct oppressor. As I said before, in the Victorian era, obvious makeup was a no go. Particularly in England which lagged far behind America, Frances
in terms of the lipstick use. In New York the U.S. first
department store makeup counter opened up B. Altman's in 1867. And that same year
Harriet M. Fish patented a lip and cheek rouge pad. Colored with carmine, AKA dead bugs, strawberry juice, beet
juice and hollyhock root. In England, for much of the 19th century, women who wanted to add
a little bit more pizazz to their lip color would basically use a predecessor to lip
balm, called a lip salve, that was tinted with a
little bit of carmine. Women could also go to a
underground beauty establishment where they could buy lip rouge discreetly. It was very dramatic they would basically walk to these stores
wearing these giant veil, so nobody could recognize their faces. They would then ushered
into these private rooms, where they could buy whatever
products they wanted. And then they would
smuggle their purchases back home where they would hide them. If you had more money,
you can sneak off to Paris and Guerlain's lip pomade, which was made of
grapefruit, butter and wax. So what changed? Why does virtually almost every woman have at least one lipstick
tube in their purse? Some scholars believe that actresses, who had to wear lipsticks
for their employment, lead to the lipsticks
eventually resurfacing. Others believe that men
started to encourage cosmetics to distract woman from
engaging in the greater evil of sports and professional pursuits. And then at the turn of the 20th century, lipstick actually symbolized
female emancipation. The sufferagettes wore lip rouge at the 1912 New York Sufferagette Rally, and following that event,
in both America and England, women started to publicly apply lip rouge, which was very, very
scandalous at the time. In the 1920's, about 15
million American women, were now wearing lipstick. Journalist first used the term,
the generation gap in 1925, to describe the generation
of mothers and daughters lipstick uses and cosmetics soon became the U.S. 4th
biggest industry following cars, movies and bootleg liquor. Flappers would wear bright
colors to shock their elders. But not all women wore lipstick
as a form of rebellion. Magazine advertisements
claim that lipstick would protect your mouth from
city pollution and germs. Stage actresses were
becoming increasingly popular and this idea that
actresses had to wear makeup and that they were not
naturally beautiful, lead to this democratization of beauty. AKA the notion that
every woman had the right and the obligation to look
as beautiful as possible. Women's saw it to copy
their favorite actresses beauty routines, as
well recreate the style that they saw onstage and onscreen. For example, the success of
the ballet, "Sheherazade" lead to an orientalist craze among woman. With Gerlain releasing
perfumes Shalimar in 1916, and Mitsouko in 1919. These perfumes were advertised
as musky oriental scents. Another example, in the 1920's, movies stars wore itty
bitty lipstick marks, which started a trend
among female audiences. This trademark style was
created by Max Factor, and started off as a solution
to a lighting problem. In the 1920's studio lamps were so hot that they caused lip pomade to run. And so Max Factor used a
grease paint foundation to cover the natural
outlines of actresses mouths and trace only thumbprint of
lipstick at the lip center. Part of the reason why
cosmetics made a huge comeback among women, was because
20th century advertisements were highly gender. Women were even responsible
for 75-80% of consumers spending during the 1930's. It was virtually their jobs
to be the purchasing agent of the family and
advertisers also viewed them as easy to manipulate. A Printer's Ink article
from 1929 declared, "The proper study of mankind is man, but the proper study of markets is woman." Russell Belk and Richard
Pollay blame mostly advertising for shift in values. Referring to a good
life in the 19th century as a life lived according to
the moral of religious laws of one's culture. Compared with the 20th
century, where a good life is a life abounding in
material comforts and luxuries. Similarly as Marlis Schweitzer says, "Every woman could be beautiful
if she devoted herself to consumption. Physical
appearance was no longer a direct reflection of
a woman's interior life, but was rather something
she could alter to express her individuality." In the book, "The Artificial
Face," Fenja Gunn adds, "Magazines, advertisements and films promoted an image of
beauty which made women increasingly aware of their
look and any shortcomings they might have in comparisons. As a result they spend
more time in beauty salons and hairdressers to ensure that
they are perfectly groomed. At home their dressing tables
were covered in pots and jars, scents in cut glass spray bottles and face powder in ornate glass bowls. Eyebrow pencils, mascara
brushes, lipsticks and eyeshadows shares space with containers
of depilatory wax and cream or liquid deodorants." Lindy Woodhead writes in
the book, "War Paint," "Helena Rubenstein was the
first beauty specialist to classify skin as dry, normal and oily early in the 1900's. And used this classification
to sell her face cream, Valaze. It was then that women began
to feel the normal functions of their skin, the formation
of wrinkles and blemishes, the production of oil, the
existence of dead skin cells, were somehow wrong. And that buying creams
would put it right." In the 1930's, Eugene Shcueller,
the creator of L'Oreal, even summed up his approach to marketing. Tell people they're disgusting,
they don't smell good, and they're not attractive. And still today beauty
companies everywhere, push their products by relying
on peoples insecurities. No they're a little bit more
subtle then flat out saying your ugly. And women have unfortunately
been the major targets of this advertising strategy. Renee Engeln writes in "Beauty Sick," "WE don't consider the gender cap in time and money spent on beauty.
But time and money matter. They're essential sources
of power and influence and also major sources of freedom." Jessica DeFino adds in
her Teen Vogue article, "The beauty industry reacted to criticism by rebranding the pursuit of beauty as a form of personal empowerment. Take L'Oreal's famous 'Because
I'm worth it,' slogan, said to be penned by a
male copywriter in 1973. It marked a major shift
in industry marketing. The shift from having to
perform beauty for others to wanting to perform beauty for oneself." So my question is, is gender marketing a positive thing for our society, or is it just a method to get more people to give up their money
and time to corporations. As of now, desire progress being made, there's still a huge
gender binary in marketing in the grooming sector. In 2014, Sophie Gadd tweeted, 'Women's deodorant scents;
rose, cotton, spring, meadow. Mens: winter ice,
sharknado, glacier punch, antifreeze, gun." There's also so many memes of
men using 2 and 1, 5 and 1, 20 in 1 shampoos. And its kind of ridiculous
the way advertisers try to get men to care
about grooming tablets through the lens of not caring. But honestly because humans are required basically like the same
things regardless of gender, there should be no real difference in products marketed to men
and products marketed to women. The American Academy of
Dermatology even explains that everyone is basically
skin care regime, should be the same, regardless of gender. But yet here we are. In any CVS isle, you will no doubt find a
pastel pink women's razor and a cheaper, sharper and more efficient but uglier and grayer men's razor. There's something called a
Pink Tax here in America. Which is not an actual tax, but its what we call
discriminatory pricing, on products and services based on gender. In 2015, a study commission by the New York City
Department of Consumer Affairs uncovered that on average
personal care products marketed to women would
cost up to 13% more than similar products targeted to men. And because of these years
and years of listening to the same one note commercials that categorize women and
men as these 2 big monoliths. It is kind of refreshing
to come across a brand that markets itself as gender inclusive. So what is gender inclusive marketing? Laura Kraber, co-founder
of "Weird Fluide," a gender neutral makeup brand said, "Our goal is really to evolve
the mainstream conception of beauty while creating a
space for people to express themselves authentically. Our packaging and product
development has tried to not be extremely masculine or feminine, and we discard those nothings generally because of our whole
believe is that gender is more of a constellation than an extreme of one or the other. If makeup is joyful and
transformative and fun, nobody should be left out." I think that's a really great statement and its hard to go wrong
with minimalist design. I think that attracts
a good range of people. But at the same time we
could also talk about how masculinity is so fragile, that a lot straight men these
days act like buying anything that is a shade lighter
than firetruck red, feels like pulling teeth. I also wanna quote Whembley Sewell, Chief Editor of the magazine, Them. In her words, "I would hope that brands
understand gender neutral design is not simply a trend or a way to pander to certain demographics or a
means to strealime production. In my humble opinion, products
and collects that are truly gender neutral should
embrace the gender spectrum." She explains that what most
brands failed to consider, is that gender neutral
doesn't necessarily mean products that are devoid
of gender expression or strictly masculine as default. I cynical as I am about
most of the industry, I'm sure there are some
CEO's and Founders, who generally care about
bringing joy to their consumers. But it needs to be said, there is this insidious
tactic, where some companies, use representation or
should I say tokenization, as a, just way to get
a little sales boost. Because the reality is gender inclusivity is becoming more and more
profitable every year. For one, in 2019 a Pew
survey of 10,000 Americans found that about 59% members of Gen Z said forms that ask about a person's gender, should include options
besides male and female. Ryan Sherman, Senior Creative
at Virtue Northern Europe, says, "Gen Z are looking
for increased transparency in the companies they buy
from, and will call out those who aren't living
up to what they preach." So my personal view on makeup is, it is what you make it. And I think gender
inclusivity in marketing is a good thing because it helps normalize the gender spectrum in our society. For instance, Rachel Lubitz
writes for Refiner29, "in a world where transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming people, can feel understandably
uneasy going up to something, as public as department store
counter for makeup advice, this new corner of the industry matters." Gender queer activist
Jacob Tobia similarly says, "The desire to have gender neutral spaces is not frivolous, it is
emblematic of a deeper, more fundamental desire
to belong in the world and to feel safe. Forget growing up, shopping for historically
feminine products still intimidated the hell out of me. I have to give myself a
little pep talk anytime I want to to to a
Sephora to buy lipstick." When a brand says that
they're gender inclusive, you expect to be able to
go to that brand store, and feel safe, and feel accepted. And feel that they are treating you the same way they treat everyone else. And personally I don't wear makeup in a conventionally flattering way. Like I obviously don't try
to make me look like Shrek, but if if got a dollar anytime
someone on the internet says something rude about my eyebrows, I'd be a very rich lady. I choose to wear makeup as a
form of artistic expression, to show my love for
vintage in 1920's and 30's cosmetic and fashion. Honestly like once I figure
out how to do finger waves, its over for all of you. Its literally over. The issue that's more complicated
when we look at brands that goes for the no makeup, make up look. These brands I feel like are
creating more insecurities, because people who wears
this no makeup, makeup, generally if you make up less, as like in artistic expression as a mask, a more as a literal face, and
it can cause by dysmorphia, when that person, at the end of the day, inevitably has to take the face off. As Glen Jankowksi, a Senior Lecturer in Critical and Social Psychology
at Leeds Beckett University in England, says, "Its promoting a very unrealistic standard in a pernicious way. At least with expressive, bold makeup, people know its decoration
and it's not part of your appearance. With this more hidden,
subtle makeup, it's more like this is what a human should look like." So a practice that I'm
trying to incorporate more into my life is going some days
without wearing any makeup. Because I do wanna see what
my face actually looks like. And I do wanna be comfortable, showing that face to other people. And I understand that there is a privilege in me saying that, because
I am a petite size woman, with genetically pretty good skin. And I know there are people who need to be as feminine presenting as
possible out of safety. And that's sucks and I'm sorry. But makeup is one those scary
things that can lead people to feel body dysmorphic without it. So remembering to set healthy
boundaries with the medium however is realistic for you to do that, is important. And I understand that its really hard, because I use to wear makeup, because I felt like I
look ugly without it. But looking back like that's
not healthy relationship to have with makeup. Because at the end of the day, if you're not comfortable
in your own skin, then that's gonna take a huge toll on your mental health. And so in conclusion, I don't think there's inherently a problem with wearing makeup or
wanting to start your own makeup brand. I think we as consumers can only try to constantly evaluate our
relationship with the medium. How it can be negative, but
also how it can be positive. I think as brands are starting to catch on to the success of representation politics. We should be challenging them
to take it to another level. How are they reflecting this
representation internally? Are they hiring a diverse group of people? How are they giving back to the community? Okay thank you so so
much for listening to me and my nasally ass voice. That's all I have for today. Let me know in the comments what you think about
the cosmetic industry, what you think about
gender inclusive marketing. I'd love to hear what you all have to say. And I'll see you next time. Hopefully I'll be a little better. I really don't know because that's the beauty of
my immune system baby! And yeah, I hope you have
a lovely rest of your day. And I'll see you later. Bye! (lite piano music)
