Memoirs of a beauty industry
- Source: Global Times
- [13:34 July 13 2010]
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Changing faces Photo: Cai Xianmin
By Mao Jiayu
As the first Asian country to promote women's cosmetics on a commercial scale previously unheard of in the East, Japan's history in the industry is certainly worthy of a look; not to mention its influence on women's makeup habits across the rest of Asia. And that's precisely what the organizers of the Beauty Heritage Exhibition at the Shanghai Art Museum have produced in a show that features Japanese television advertising footage, cosmetics posters and magazine covers from the 19th century until the present day.
Put together by the country's oldest cosmetics manufacturer, Shiseido, the exhibition details the history and changes that have characterized Japan's society, culture of beauty and aesthetic values over the last 140 years.
Visitors can see how even fashions for the type of models used in cosmetics advertising have never remained static. The images change from the exclusive use of Asian women in the earlier part of the 20th century to Western faces later on, and finally back to native-born models over the last two decades.
In seeking to distinguish itself from similar Western styles in cosmetics, the show unsurprisingly focuses on the changing fashions in eye makeup for Asian women. Thus, eyeliner, eye shadow and mascara have always been the mainstays of the Japanese industry. "There are far more types of mascaras available to Asian women than there are in Western markets," Ying Yongyi a senior makeup artist from cosmetics giant Shu Uemura told the Global Times.
A cursory look at contemporary Japanese cartoons may give westerners the impression the country's women have always aspired to the huge, round-eyed look. Traditional Japanese paintings up to the end of the 19th century, however, always extolled thin eye brows and long eyes.
And then from the start of the 20th century a hybrid of Japanese and Western culture, drawing on influences from Modernism, Art Nouveau and Art Deco, played a leading role in the development of the country's cosmetics industry. As Japanese people gained more opportunities to go out and enjoy their leisure time, they also became more fashion-conscious, wearing watches and other types of jewelry. In 1908, Shinzo Fukuhara, the son of Shiseido's founder, Arinobu Fukuhara, decided to study pharmacology in New York and in 1913 he went to Paris to study art. When he took over the management of Shiseido in 1915, the emphasis of the business shifted from drugs to cosmetics, instilling ideas from the West both into the products and the brand's spirit.
