I was sitting in a movie theater next to my mother when, as the lights were about to go down, she turned to me and said, "Don't you want to put on a little lipstick?" She didn't mean just any lipstick. She meant red. Bright, bold red.
My mother had an almost religious belief in the power of red lipstick to alter your life. Growing up poor in the Bronx with deaf parents who didn't speak English or know any sign language, she had to advocate for her family from a very early age. She grappled with government agencies, teachers, and landlords on her own and had to exude confidence to ensure she was seen and heard. By the time she was 16, she had a ritual: She squared her shoulders, applied a deep-red lipstick, and stepped out into the world. She wore red lipstick when she went to work right after high school and while she took night classes, determined to get an education. Eventually, she married and traveled the globe, but red lipstick remained her talisman, a signal to herself and the world that she was worthy of attention. And when, in her 60s, she went in for cataract surgery, she painted her lips before being wheeled away, certain the doctors would pay extra care. The first thing she said in recovery: "All the nurses love my lipstick."
This story is from the April 2023 edition of Harper's BAZAAR - US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April 2023 edition of Harper's BAZAAR - US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
The Epic VISION of BARBARA CHASE-RIBOUD
With a MONUMENTAL new EXHIBITION in Paris, the Americanborn ARTIST looks back on a CREATIVE LIFE spent thinking BIG
She's a FREE SPIRIT and an OLD SOUL, a Disney Legend and a Grammy winner.ONE THING MILEY CYRUS is NOT INTERESTED in? Being PREDICTABLE.
Miley Cyrus is sitting in front of the stone-walled fireplace in her house in Los Angeles, holding up two coffee-table books.
Routine HABIT
How executive editor LEAH CHERNIKOFF found a SKINCARE REGIMEN she could finally COMMIT to
LIFE of the PARTY
Dance the night away with looks inspired by PARTY MAKEUP of the PAST. Grab BLACK EYELINER and lots of GLITTER, but leave perfection at the door. Here, how to re-create the coolest EYES, LIPS, and FACE for any FESTIVE OCCASION.
RETAIL Therapy
SHOPPING TODAY often feels more like mindless SCROLLING than BUYING something because it makes you feel SPECIAL. One writer discovers the beauty of a more PERSONAL, CUSTOMIZED EXPERIENCE.
CREATIVE Powers
In this edition, our columnist, DEREK C. BLASBERG, visits the PARIS STUDIO of the inimitable artist SETSUKO KLOSSOWSKA DE ROLA, who was married to one of the most celebrated painters of the 20TH CENTURY and has always approached LIVING her LIFE as if she were CRAFTING a MASTERPIECE
BIRTH Story
NEW MOTHERHOOD is often depicted as a BEATIFIC and BLISSEDOUT EXPERIENCE. Writer SARAH HOOVER'S JOURNEY couldn't have been further from it. In her new MEMOIR, she offers an unflinching LOOK at her STRUGGLE with severe POSTPARTUM DEPRESSIONand how she EMERGED from it.
What WORDS Are FOR
We have been LIVING in “UNPRECEDENTED TIMES\" for 25 years. KAITLYN GREENIDGE reflects on what it means to write through a NEW REALITY.
Tipping POINT
When the PROGRESSIVE A-LIST CLIENTELE of the fashionable workout BALLET BEAUTIFUL learned that its FOUNDER was MARRIED to an ARCHITECT of the MAGA BLUEPRINT to impose an ultraconservative social agenda, PROJECT 2025, many felt SHOCKED and even BETRAYED
SABATO's Way
hor GUCCI creative director SABATO DE SARNO, remaking the storied Italian HOUSE for a NEW ERA isnt about OUTRUNNING its PAST. ts about MAKING some HISTORY ofhis OWN.