Red Lipstick: An Ancient History
by Ana Redondo
A Universal Code
Marilyn Monroe's red pout; the most famous rouge in the world to date or perhaps the freedom fighting pout of the women in Britain during the suffragette movement. It is a timeless slice of history, emblematic of power and ultimate beauty, oozing confidence for the wearer. It is femininity with a bold assertion of dominance and fearlessness. Red lipstick is one of the most popular symbols in the modern world but where did it begin? The history of the timeless, potent pigment goes all the way back to the ancient world, across Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and then in the Roman empire. The history of lipstick is one of sacred ritual, as it remains today for thousands of people around the world.
Corinthian pyxis with a red make-up powder. Found in a tomb from the 5th c. BC
Rouge Lip Paint of the Ancient World
Lipstick’s colourful history begins for most in 3500 BC. The Sumerian Queen Schub-ad of Ancient Ur crushed red (Hematite) rocks with white lead to create a stain for the lips, using minerals of the area. In fact, an excavation of Ur’s royal cemetery showed that those who could afford these pigments were buried with their homemade lip stains stored in cockleshells. Assyrians also wore these pigments, both men and women, excavations of archaeological sites reveal. Cochineal, a pigment with routes in Mesopotamia and Egypt is a red dye obtained from scale insects and crushed to form a vibrant red. It was used alike the red stones to create the colour of regal power. Alongside this find, the excavation revealed that green and black pigments were also found within these shells and also mixed with a binding agent and formed into a coin sized solid disk shape to use. Gold and silver containers were found acting as artificial shells which were used in the same purpose, to store lip paints. Archaeologist Zettler has suggested that this was used in ritual to the goddess Inanna of fertility, and we might assume that the bright red colour was used in a show of power and strength. In Bronze Age Iran, this vibrant red pigment was found in many burial grounds and is compatible with lip colouring preparations. It suggests a pattern of specialised red pigments across the elites of southern Eurasia, linking social structures with ritual functions. The lip paints therefore would have been used to enhance individual appeal and public authority amongst elite women of ancient Iran. A vial was found to be one of the oldest lipstick containers, showing intricate craftmanship and ornate decoration and made from a semi-precious stone. This item was used by its owner as a functional piece, a confidence booster, sacred in its own right. It is slender, which could show its purpose was to be held in one hand alongside a bronze mirror, much like modern day application of lipstick.
Cleopatra and Lipstick in Ancient Egypt
Continuing this journey to ancient Egypt, self- beautification was a common concept that motivated people, striving to seek perfection. A ceremonial palette dating from 3100BC was used for mixing and grinding pigments and powders for the desired finish. Alike Mesopotamia, cosmetics were found in burials of queens and elite women, including mirrors and combs, held in cosmetic boxes carved from semi-precious stone. The queen Cleopatra favoured carmine pigments, a red stone for her lip paint, continuing this tradition of high-quality red pigments associated with power and favour of the gods. Men are shown on reliefs to have reddish toned skin or a pale orange. It reminds us of the fact that this symbolised true power as men were allowed to be outside and women remained strictly inside the home sphere. Cosmetic recipes have been found within medical texts for everything an Egyptian woman might need from renewing the skin to beautifying the face which included red pigments. Art from tombs shows women painting their cheeks with a pad and their lips with a spatula or reed. There is a scene of Queen Nefertari in the Valley of the Queens tomb depicting the queen with a clear circle on her cheeks with a darker red hue, a clear difference to the rest of her skin. Using red ocre from naturally coloured clay which was washed and dried in the sun to achieve the burnt red colour. It was also used for medical reasons to heal eye problems or burns.
Ancient Greek Cosmetics and Control
During the decline of the Egyptian empire, the Greek empire flourished and had a complicated relationship with lipstick. There is a cultural shift between lipstick as a social rank identifier to upholding femininity which received negative undertones. Early in the empire, women are typically shown to have lacked facial makeup but used dyes and fake hair. The red lip paint became associated with prostitutes using much more standard materials such as wine for colouring and animal products. This was perhaps the first time lipstick had to become regulated in law due to the view of the lipstick as causing the deception of men and moral corruption. These women could be punished if they exhibited the lip paint amongst other dress codes in public. However, this was not true for the whole of the Greek extended world, as the Minoans on the island of Crete maintained a more liberal, ambiguous function of lip paint similar to Egypt and Mesopotamia. The Minoans used ‘tyrian dye’ which was a reddish-purple pigment made from shellfish for fabrics and also lip paints. From 700-300 BC there was a revival in the use of lip paint across mainland Greece, revealed to us from reliefs and tombs. Greek art depicted women handing cosmetic objects to one and another and tombs were revealed to have concealed boxes within them called pyxides containing cosmetics such as red pigments. The Use of red lipstick leaps from women of lower classes back to the elite, using new vegetable substances such as seaweed and mulberries.
Roman Empresses
By the time the Greek empire fell, the popularity of lipstick soared, but was in low production and a marker of status rather than a gendered ritual. The colour of the lip paint indicated a person’s social position, such as the Empress Poppaea Sabina had numerous attendants to apply her cosmetics and to ensure that her lips were painted a deep red at all times. These powerful women often employed trained slaves known as cosmatae to maintain their makeup and hair. The colour of the lip paint remained a purple or red, using ingredients such as ocre and iron ore to create that winning colour. Poisonous plants like fucus were infused in these lip paints, which was a theme across the ancient world. Again, purple was a signifier of wealth and power in Rome. Lipstick also became associated with men in power.
As a tool for reclaiming power - Early Modern Period to 20th Century
Lip paint continued to remain important in Europe into the Early Modern period, specifically the Tudor reign. Elizabeth I of England used pigments made from minerals as a symbol of divine sovereignty, creating her own colour from cochineal, fig milk and egg whites. Cosmetics became highly important to her presentation as a monarch, with lead white face makeup. As a result of the renaissance movement across Europe, colour was associated with beauty and in fact, lip paint was so widely used it sometimes became a substitute for money. This was, however, not immune from church criticism of lipstick as a material of magic and the devil. There is evidence that women had to confess their use of cosmetics in confession to the priest. She is also credited with the invention of lip pencil, made from ground alabaster or plaster with a red colouring mineral and shaping it into a crayon sort of shape, great for application. Ladies around court flocked to follow on this example, wearing red lip paint out in court, though some women chose a muted tone. Elizabeth’s lips remained bright red ochre in some of her most famous portraits including her famous Armada painting. This infamous piece, containing many symbols with presenting Elizabeth’s superiority to the Spanish rule highlights red lip paint as again becoming a symbol of power and royalty. This is what power looks like, in deep burgundy red. By the time of her death in 1603, she had on her lips nearly half an inch of lip paint. The wearing of lipstick became restricted once again, into the 1600s, with a law passed that using makeup to deceive a man into marriage was punished as witchcraft. This was the first of many terrible laws against women with the excuse of ‘witchcraft’. It is true that lipstick has had a colourful and dynamic history since Ancient Mesopotamia and into the 19th and 20th Century, lipstick acquires its renewed sense of symbolism as a revolution statement. It is made popular by the Suffragette movement in America and United Kingdom, wearing noticeable, bold shades as an emblem of women’s emancipation. Again, we see this crop up throughout the Second World War, with the renewed sense of wearing red lips to empower morale. The shades ‘Victory Red’ by Elizabeth Arden and ‘Auxiliary Red’ by Cyclax adorned the lips of women working in ammunitions, on the front line and at home. Slogans like ‘keep your beauty on duty’ were put onto advertisements to endorse this symbol of power and never surrendering. Hitler’s hatred for makeup on women and namely red lipstick spurred this on, with UK and US companies using this to advertise their products. If women used this symbol, they would be directly fighting against the Nazi Regime. We now see lots of the same themes in the use of lip rouge in the Ancient World to present day, as women use bright coloured minerals to brighten lips and give them the courage of a Queen. It should be considered as a device in its own right, as a symbol of power due to the opposition against the wearing of it. The witch trials of Europe and America attacked women for their symbols, cosmetics, specifically rouge being one of them, so threatened by its importance. This history of lipstick in the ancient world shows a history of resourcefulness, dedication to ritual and craft to devote such time to adorning themselves in these colours. It also shows the fluctuation between the social status of its wearers. Lipstick wearers like me, mark that it gives them a psychological lift when they apply red lipstick. It feels as if you are carrying the strength of every person who had worn it through time, before you.
Woman aircraft worker, Vega Aircraft Corporation, Burbank, Calif. Shown checking electrical assemblies 1942 June David Bransby
Ana is a 23 year old classicist and writer from London, having studied at Kings College London. She specialises in mythologies, social history, folk history and ancient religions. She works within museums and galleries to reinforce accessible learning of history for all. Her work has been published in historical journals and blogs focusing on uncovering women's history.
