Suffragettes armored themselves with the striking color as they fought for the right to vote. In 1912, beauty pioneer Elizabeth Arden handed them the bullets—tiny, but mighty tubes of red lipstick that were shaped like ammunition.
The daring move symbolized strength, independence and defiance multi function.
“It wasn’t worn by everybody at that time,” Bésame Cosmetics founder and writer of Classic Beauty: The History of Makeup Gabriela Hernandez told E!. “They were attempting to say, ‘Hey, we’re independent, and we’re different and we wear whatever we would like.'”
The wild audacity of the suffragists showcased the ferocity of red lipstick, a lot in order that it became essential during World War II. At the time, beauty brands halted the production of its products, including lipstick, with the intention to use all of its materials for the war.
“At first, they cut it out,” Hernandez noted. “But then they saw morale really slip—not only their morale but the morale of the soldiers who wanted pretty girls to come back back to.”
Once more, Elizabeth Arden was linked to a historical moment. To assist lift their spirits, she created a fire-engine shade called Montezuma Red—an homage to the Marine Corps’ hymn—and was given the exclusive right to sell makeup on military bases.
“That color was marketed to women as a morale booster,” Hernandez explained. “You did not have pantyhose available. You did not have rather a lot of fabric. The only thing that stuck around were lipsticks.”