All products featured on Allure are independently selected by our editors.
However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through links in this article.
This is an op-ed by Allure contributor Marilyn La Jeunesse.
Getty Images. Design by Sarah Olin.
Red lipstick and white feminism go hand-in-hand.
There, golden tubes of Arden’s red lipstick werehanded out to suffragistsas a symbol of female empowerment.
From that moment onward,red lipstickbecame an unofficial symbol of the suffragist movement at least for white women.
Regina Merson
Andlanguage minority womenwere discriminated against by state mandates untilamendments to the Voting Rights Act in 1970 and 1975.
So women of color were largely missing from this powerful show of unity for the betterment of American women.
Many stereotypes on red lips continue to persist today.
Diomara
“There is nothing like the jolt you get from wearing the right energetic red.
When she was arrested, Chow told police she represented the group Pico Rojo.
Her statement became famous worldwide after it was turned into a powerful social movement against oppression.
Eva Reign
Actor and writerEva Reignrecalls her complicated relationship with red lipstick.
Eva Reign
“As someone assigned male at birth, this was incredibly frowned upon.
One day I got caught.
Gabriela Hernandez
What followed was super traumatic.
I was immediately punished and told that my actions were wrong,” she tellsAllure.
I felt powerful, but I also felt an impending sense of doom.
I began analyzing how best to navigate the world in a safe, affirming manner.”
“It has an inherent sexual flair to it that once scared me, but now I embrace it.
I embrace the attention it attracts because I no longer seek to blend in.
I’m proud to stand out.”
Gabriela Hernandez
Social media strategist and writer Danielle Odimar knows this feeling all too well.
“Until recently, I stayed away from red.
“Instead I’d be in that other group that didn’t belong or deserve to stand out.
It wasn’t until about two years ago that I discovered my love of red lipstick.
When I wear it, I feel powerful.”
Lipsticks with white bases and mattes don’t cater to the Black consumer, as Hernandez points out.
It took off immediately, she started her own lipstick, and then makeup, line.”
So she started her own brand."
But they are no longer waiting for mainstream companies to cater to their beauty needs.
Theyre taking control creating products and companies for themselves and others who find the beauty industry to be lacking.
