Blurring the Lines - How Gender Neutrality is Making a Mark on the Beauty Space
Image Courtesy: Forbes
The increase in celebration of the LGBTQIA+ within the past decade has allowed for exponential amounts of growth and expansion in every industry relating to gender identity and sexual orientation. Especially in the beauty space, society has seen drastic changes occur recently when it comes to who is representing brands, target markets, and overall purpose of products. For years we saw brands encouraging the use of makeup to cover up the parts of yourself that you didn’t love or want to see, and yet now we are seeing a shift away from those self-deprecating ideals. More and more companies are pushing makeup as a form of self-expression regardless of pronouns and identification. This push towards a more self-love-based approach to beauty has allowed people to accept and appreciate the most authentic versions of themselves, while also not shying away from the gender-not-normals that have become more prevalent in our everyday lives.
The first big push society saw towards breaking the barriers of the beauty world was back in 2016 when CoverGirl announced James Charles as their first-ever male brand ambassador. With the rise of social media and youtube, people started to see an increase in the use of makeup as a form of self-expression for all genders and sexualities. This was the first large company to embrace this change, and show their support for the evolving industry. Since then companies have only expanded on these ideals. For men, the first male-targeted cosmetics house came out with products made for helping men feel more confident in their everyday selves. As stated by The Fashion Spot, “Makeup has no gender guidelines, but there’s still a stigma associated with men who wear makeup or even have a skincare routine” (n.d). Since then, larger brands have come out with beauty lines, such as Boy de Chanel, that target men by creating a more welcoming environment with the use of simple product marketing.
These strides towards breaking down the idea that makeup and skincare are only for women have done wonders for society as a whole, but specifically the LGBTQIA+ community. In recent years, we have seen a rise in gender-neutral or genderless makeup and skincare brands that target anyone and everyone who has an interest in wearing makeup. Specifically, brands like “We Are Fluid” and “TooD Beauty” put out products for all skin shades and gender expressions to embrace their truest self however they please. “We Are Fluid” believes “makeup should be fun, [our] label ensures that nobody is left out when it comes to self-expression” (Hypebae, 2021). The more brands with ideals similar to these, the more accepting people and society will become to the fact that makeup does not and never did have a gender.
Image Courtesy: Hypebae
As stated previously, there are also lots of stereotypically female-targeted brands now making strides towards expanding their customer base in all directions. Not only is Chanel coming out with makeup for men, but other companies such as Charlotte Tilbury and Glossier have both branded their skin products as unisex with lots of shade ranges, as well, to include anyone who wants to wear them. While these actions may seem small in comparison to an entire brand dedicated to genderless makeup, it is these actions that will destigmatize the act of wearing and buying makeup as a task only for women. We have come so far as a society, but there is still a large gap that we need to lessen. One way to speed up this progression would be the limiting of gender specific targeting. Taking the power away from items that never should have had any in the first place is how we will continue to grow and learn as a community.
Image Courtesy: Zula
Strike Out,
Writer: Haley Wolf
Athens
