Rogue Beauty

Being concerned with looking and dressing pretty does not a frivolous woman make — just look at the unorthodox beauty icon, Felicity Jones.

- Joie Goh

THERE ARE SOME women whose outward presentations are based on their makeup, whether it be expert contouring, ever-changing lipstick colours or a signature smoky eye or winged liner. Then there are others for whom makeup seems wholly unnecessary — an occasional indulgence, for special events, but otherwise an insignificant part of their daily lives. And at first glance, Felicity Jones appears to be one of the latter women.

In popular parlance, Jones would be considered a “serious” actress. Her film credits included an Oscar-nominated turn as author and long-suffering wife Jane Wilde Hawking in “The Theory of Everything” and fanboy favourite Jyn Erso in the “Star Wars” spinoff “Rogue One”, and an upcoming plum role as a young Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in “On the Basis of Sex”. And unfortunately, as sexist and dismissive it sounds, there’s a general belief that “serious” women don’t care about makeup and clothes — that only shallow, appearance-obsessed “camwhores” without substance would spend money, time and effort on painting artificial features on themselves and bedeck themselves with frivolous accessories to boost their personal value.