The Met ball is just around the corner, and this year’s exhibition, “American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity,” celebrates archetypal American women and the rise of distinctive American style—from patriots and Gibson girls to bohemians, flappers, and working women.
Miss Elizabeth Arden, who opened her first red-doored salon one hundred years ago in 1910, believed in the empowerment of women through makeup. In 1912, she made it her business to provide red lipstick to the suffragettes marching down Fifth Avenue. She developed Montezuma Red lip color in the 1940s especially for the women who were joining the war effort. The original ad (left)—which encouraged women to join the armed forces—declared it was “inspired by the brave, true red of the hat cord, scarf, and chevrons of the Women in the Marines.” For women not in uniform, Arden suggested it as “ a vivid red to wear with black, white, gray, beige, navy, and tweeds. A tribute to some of the bravest men and women in the world.” Montezuma Red is no longer available, but in its spirit, and to celebrate their centennial, Arden has created a new, limited-edition lipstick that’s just as inspiring: Red Door Red. $20; elizabetharden.com.
Sitting in a restaurant in New York in 1940, Revlon founder Charles Revson watched a woman pull a cigarette from her purse and lift it to her lips to light it—when he noticed that the color of her nail polish did not match the color of her lipstick. And just like that, he had the idea for his next ad campaign: “Matching Lips and Fingertips,” a concept that would change the way American women dressed, and establish makeup as true fashion accessories, rather than just extras. Revlon’s most iconic lipstick-and-polish set, Cherries in the Snow, launched in 1953, with ads starring Dorian Leigh, and is still to this day one of the company’s top-ten best sellers. $7.99 for lipstick; $4.79 for nail polish at drugstores nationwide.
