Shoulder pads, pinstripes, taffeta and Elnett hairspray: The 80s has arisen from its slumber. This season, fashion went back to the future with full on avant garde looks and a firm “more is more” policy- and beauty did the same. Kim Kardashian didn’t just decide to wear fluorescent lamé cycling shorts one morning. Rihanna didn’t accidentally slip into that Versace leather mini dress. In 2018 “thighbrow” happened. From Prada’s current fluoro fixation to Virgil Alboh confessing that Princess Diana was the muse for his Spring 2018 collection, the best of the 80s is getting a lipstick-laden kiss of life. Backstage at Erdem, Val Garland haphazardly applied Mountain Dew blue eyeshadow on models and soft-bunched perm-style hair bounced down the catwalk at Giorgio Armani. Molly Ringwald in head to toe Ashley Williams is on the moodboard. Simi Haze in their boxy blazers are the Instagram poster girls. Your mum’s wedding dress is a good place to start.
What does this actually mean for us lot roaming the tube in real time with stuff to do like- work, and, why now? Well. The 80s was a time pre Facetune and Instagram and Serum. Incredible. It was also a moment in time where for the first time, female empowerment and makeup joined forces. Makeup had to live up to the newly designed working woman’s wardrobe. It was a period when women were asserting their authority in the workplace. Beauty became as much about accentuating the curve of the lip and the swell of a cheekbone as as it was about echoing the sharp cut of a blazer or an androgynous haircut. What ensued was some of the best style and film imagery to ever grace Western pop culture. Just Google “Jean-Paul Goude, Grace Jones”. This time round, keep things less Cindy Crawford and more Kaia Gerber. It’s about subtly integrating elements of the 80s look into your makeup bag and a good place to start is: lipstick.
In fact, we’ve been playing around with Estée Lauder’s new Pure Color Desire Rouge Excess Lipstick in the name of research. The lipstick comes in 29 shades spanning nudes, reds, plums and oranges. The lipstick is special for its extreme pigmentation and one stroke colour finish. The casing is ultra-luxe, golden faceted with siren red cartouche and has that satisfying ASMR magnet closure. In short, it’s an accessory in its own right.
We let the colours do the talking in a specially themed 80s editorial with photographer Josh Wilks. Inspired by the most powerful pop culture heroines of the era - Cher, Lisa Bonet and Grace Jones - and by the epoch's distinct cinema, Dazed Beauty set about to create a series of cinematic stills that encapsulate the soft-hue, high-drama femininity of 1980s fashion and style. Our woman is talking on the phone; breaking hearts, sealing deals - the usual.
You can purchase Estée Lauder’s new Pure Color Desire Rouge Excess Lipstick here.
Photographer: Josh Wilks
Makeup Artist: Porsche Poon
Styling by Kate Iorga
Hair Stylist: Shiori Takhashi
Model: Helene Selam Kleih
Nail Artist: Sylvie Macmillan
Production: Saorla Houston
Set Design: Stefania Lucchesi
