A red lipstick is one of the most integral items in a woman’s makeup bag. Today, a scarlet pout is one of the world’s most powerful beauty symbols, but where did this iconic beauty product come from?
Red lipstick has a colorful, tumultuous history.
Many historians acknowledge ancient Sumerians (in 3500 BC in southern Mesopotamia) for inventing it by crushing red rocks into a powder to tint lips red. Others credit the ancient Egyptian elites, who mixed crushed insects into a vibrant paste of red waxes for Cleopatra, among others.
It’s been a social signifier conveying a multitude of meanings.
Depending on the location and century, this visual statement signaled a flirtatious seduction, declaration of social status, show of wealth, or indication of confidence. In 1912, when American women marched for equal rights (including the right to vote), suffragettes wore red lipstick to bring attention to their cause. “This was seen as the mark of the independent emancipated woman, which at the time was thought to be quite scandalous,” says Gabriela Hernandez, who started her Bésame Cosmetics line with a lipstick from 1920. “This subversive action would have brought censure from men (and some women) who regarded these women as morally lacking.” Suffrage leaders—Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, in particular—loved red lipstick for its ability to intimidate men, and protesters adopted the bold color as a sign of defiance. Cosmetics brand founder Elizabeth Arden passed out free tubes of bright red lipstick to women along the Fifth Avenue suffragette march route in New York City. That’s when red lipstick became a symbol of women’s liberation and rebellion. Women applied red lipstick in public to shock men and declare their independence from the social stratifications that limited them.
Red lip color gained popularity internationally as women’s rights movements spread worldwide.
As red lipstick symbolized American suffrage, its sway traveled across the pond and then some. British suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst donned a red lip, which helped spread the symbolic action among her fellow activists. Interestingly, this simple beauty product has been used—and scorned—as a feminist tactic for “terrorizing” men. Adolf Hitler famously hated red lipstick so, in Allied countries, it became a sign of patriotism and a statement against fascism. World War II aside, this undeniably feminine color bestowed women with a mysterious aura of power that came off to some as frightening, morally dubious, and highly intimidating. Red lipstick as a political statement is still seen in this century. In 2018, Nicaraguan men and women sported red lipstick and uploaded photos of themselves to social media to show their support for the release of anti-government protesters. In Chile in 2019, almost 10,000 women took to the streets with black blindfolds and red lips to denounce sexual violence in the country. “Women who wear this color say that it emboldens them,” says Hernandez. “The color red has carried this connotation for centuries, and it still does to this day. The ‘Iron Lady’ Margaret Thatcher, who served as prime minister of the United Kingdom, always sported a red lip; and now we see it in [U.S. Representative] Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.”
Wearing red lips still empowers women today.
It’s chic, elegant, and flattering, but also bold, defiant, undeniably feminine, and visually powerful. “The women’s movement was about women having choices, which included the way they looked and wore cosmetics. I think the choices in makeup available today enable people to express their preferences. There is a sea of choices to aid in discovery and self-expression.” says Hernandez. “Red is the color of passion and strength. I think makeup now is really a mirror of what you believe for others to see.” If you’re looking for your own tube of empowerment, here are some of our personal favorites.
