The 1980s Era

1980s Makeup: The Face as a Statement

A club where makeup decided who got in, a model paid to be the face of a cosmetics house, a line built for makeup artists — and, at either end of the decade, an argument about the rabbits.

The essayThe Face as a Statement

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1980 – 1989Colour & Conscience

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The 1980s Era: The Chronology

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1979
The Blitz Kids: Makeup at the Door
For a short time at the turn of the 1980s, a Tuesday night in a Covent Garden wine bar admitted people by how they looked — and the look went from the night bus to the high street.
1980
How Many Rabbits: Henry Spira and the Draize Test
In 1980 a former merchant seaman and schoolteacher asked, in a full-page newspaper advertisement, how many rabbits a cosmetics company blinded for beauty’s sake. The industry answered with money for alternatives.
1982
The Face of the House: Isabella Rossellini and Lancôme
For fourteen years one woman stood for a French cosmetics house around the world. The contract made her face famous, and its end turned it into an argument about age.
1984
The Artist’s Counter: M·A·C and Makeup for Professionals
A photographer who made makeup for the camera and a hairdresser who built salons founded a line for professionals in Toronto. It did not advertise, did not test on animals and did not pay its staff by commission.
1989
The Avon Boycott: The End of a Company’s Animal Tests
In 1989 an animal-rights group hung three million notices on American doors and called a boycott of the company that sold makeup on the doorstep. By the summer Avon had ended its animal tests, and said the campaign had nothing to do with it.

In short

The 1980s opened with a London club whose door was decided by makeup and an advertisement asking how many rabbits Revlon blinded, made one model the face of a cosmetics house and a makeup artist’s kit into a brand, and closed with Avon ending its animal tests in 1989.

The 1980s Era at a Glance

Colour on DisplayClub makeup in London, worn on the Tube and the night bus.
The Face of a HouseOne model, under contract, standing for a whole cosmetics house.
The Artist’s BrandMakeup made for professionals, then sold to everyone.
Testing on TrialA campaign against the rabbit eye test, from 1980 to 1989.