I am in the process of cleaning out my basement/life/chest of drawers/fill-in-the-blank. A few weeks ago, as I removed a trash bag filled with my sad luggage of the past - complete with unpleasant moldy basement smell, I stumbled upon a Lancome lipstick that brought my past right to the present. Matte Bourdeaux, a color I wore in high school and college. I always had my skin pale and that delicious dark, burgundy red on my lips.That was part of my post-post-punk uniform. I held that lipstick in my hand and happy memories came marching in to that brain place they go. I uncapped it, screwed it up and looked at it. Half-way gone in the way all my lipsticks look, curved to a fine, thin tip. I took a whiff and thought can I keep this? My finders glee mingled with my fear of germs and mold. In the end my fear and nose won. I threw it away.
I think I have thought about that lipstick every day since. I searched Lancome and it's discontinued- long ago probably. My Matte Bordeaux lips were my signature back then; I don't have a signature look anymore.
The 80s were a time for the signature look - the Madonna girls, the new wave girls, the punks, the skinheads, the metal heads, the stoners, the preppies. There were more I'm sure, but I can't remember from my 40 year old-haze.
It was kind of cool having the ability with clothes and makeup to define your politics, feelings or interests. Things nowadays in fashion seem very homogenized, but back then a pair of wine-red lips had the power to set you apart.
