Lipstick Orientalism

So as the summer continues to roll along, new cosmetics collections are starting to pop up. There are a few that I'm interested in (NARS Fall 2008, anyone?) but there's one in particular that caught my eye, and not in a good way.

Lancome has just released their Fall collection entitled Maharani Jewels, based on the colors and patterns of.. you guessed it - India!

While I understand and (sometimes) appreciate the fashion industry's interest in the Subcontinent, I can't help but feel that their strides toward multiculturalism are.. well, a little shallow. And this collection in particular makes me a little more than uneasy. There are elements of the concept that have just flattened South Asian-ness into garden variety exoticism.  

Shade names like Guava Enchantment or Lotus Splendor, Jaipur Spice or Bombay Glow -- they are fixated on the India of the Kama Sutra, incense and spice markets, and Aladdin's cave full of jewels.  I, for one, would love to see an "India" collection that does not harp upon the 'exotic colors' or the "sensuous women with hennaed hands."  

Just tell it like it is.  While the fact that India is a country of over a billion people, the majority of whom live in poverty, is not sexy - I think there is a ton of ground to cover between Saraswati at one end, and the Unscheduled castes at the other:  the two dozen languages, the wildly different looks and colors and features of those one billion.  But I'm not holding my breath.

Until then, we're left with the collection description:
 

Lancôme’s fall collection is inspired by the beauty of the woman, shown through her ancestral gestures and intense eyes.

and an elephant bronzer in the shade Sunny Manorama:


I have so much more to say, but excuse me for now - I have to go practice my mudras.

Not So Vogue

Italian Vogue's July 2008 issue will feature only black models since they are so underrepresented in the fashion industry (read about in The New York Times here). I was kind of intrigued and impressed by this idea, but also rather disturbed because of course, the magazine is now turning this into, quite literally, a very black and white issue.

I guess Italian Vogue is making some sort of an effort here, albeit a very superficial one. What I don't understand is why there are still such extremes, and not just in terms of skin color but overall "look" - why is classic and patrician versus exotic and new? I get that this is probably what sells, and I also understand that black and white models can still encompass a wide variety of looks and body types, but it still seems that everyone else falls between the cracks.

The other day, a friend was telling me how people are always surprised to hear her ethnicity because she doesn't supposedly look "Indian," with the implication that looking remotely "ethnic" would somehow make her less attractive. I say we get an issue of Italian Vogue out there that is um, brown maybe, since most people fall somewhere between black and white, plain and exotic, and are definitely more "ethnic" looking than the fashion industry seems to prefer.

Now I want to start a magazine for these people. Oh, wait, that's totally been done before. I'll just superficially blog about such issues instead.