Many people still think of Gloria Steinem as the tall, beautiful girl with honey-toned, middle-parted hair who decades ago blazed a path for second-wave feminism by wearing aviator glasses on the bridge of her nose .
Some of them may be pleased to know that, apart from some steel-gray hair and wrinkles, Ms. Steinem, who turned 90 in March when she hosted a discussion this month in support of a new marketing campaign She was looking exactly the same then. For Jones Road, her friend Bobbi Brown’s four-year-old beauty brand.
“I was ‘pretty,'” Ms. Steinem said of her early days as a journalist and activist. At the time, he recalled, there was a widespread belief – or a “ridiculous belief”, as he put it – “that feminists were women who men couldn’t get.”
She was reminiscing in her living room on Manhattan’s Upper East Side Ms Brown67, and a group of women in various professions, among them actress Naomi Watts, who recently launched a series menopause products, Carla Hassan, chief marketing officer of JPMorgan Chase; And Suleka Joud, documentary filmmaker And the writer who won an Emmy Award for her video series Documenting his experiences with cancer for The New York Times.
While discussing Ms Brown’s new campaign for Jones Road the women opened up about a number of troubling issues, which He started She signed with the Estée Lauder Company following the expiration of a 25-year non-compete agreement when the company acquired her namesake brand, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics.
The large-scale digital campaign, called “I Am Me”, urges women of different ages and backgrounds to focus on what they love about themselves – the characteristics that make them unique. Are. It’s the latest expression of Ms. Brown’s long-standing insistence on dismantling the industry’s perception of how makeup should look and be marketed.
Ms. Brown was raised in the Midwest, in a culture that prefers long-legged white people, she said in a phone interview Tuesday. Growing up, she never considered herself “pretty”.
It was only in her later years that she reached a divine realization. “I finally realized, man, you’re a good-looking, petite brunette — just get on with it,” she said.
It is not that he is against some strategic changes. She’s had laser treatments to remove dark spots and yes, she’s dyed her hair. “I like the way I look with dark hair,” she said.
Ms. Steinem, who rarely wears lipstick and relies mostly on moisturizer and eye makeup, said in a phone interview on Wednesday that Ms. Brown’s realistic approach to beauty was admirable.
He said, “Bobby is not looking for glamour.” “She’s encouraging women to accept who they are – wrinkles, freckles and all.”
A salon with snippets of southern France
At Maison Seventy Seven, a recently opened salon on the western edge of SoHo in Manhattan, there are no junior stylists covered in tattoos, no raucous songs playing through the speakers and no owners’ names scrawled on the door.
Those familiar charms of many high-end hair salons “are not my way,” said Fabrice Gilly, a former creative director. frederic fekai In New York, he founded Maison Seventy Seven with hair stylist David Coteblanche.
Mr. Gilley, 55, said he envisioned his salon as a contrast to the high-polish and often restrictive beauty temples of Uptown Manhattan. With a charming display of straws and fedoras at its entrance, a palm tree wall mural and a small garden in the back where customers can get haircuts, the place reflects a cozy slice of Mr. Gilly’s native southern France.
Even though its atmosphere is informal, the Maison Seventy Seven Salon still has some of the charm of its more civilized counterparts, including a bar abundantly stocked with coffee, wine and champagne. There is also a selection of products such as salves, aromatherapy bath salts, dried flower decorations and quirky ceramics for sale.
Since opening in March, the salon has attracted patrons ranging in age from 20 to around 70 with its menu of haircuts (starting at $175), single-process color treatments (starting at $170) and highlights (starting at $330). Have done. said Mr Gilly, who learned his art from some of Europe’s leading hair stylists bruno pittini And Jean-Louis David,
Mr. Gilly’s career was also strongly influenced by his mother, who owned a salon in Bordeaux which she described as a gathering place for the women of her community.
There, he said, he learned that “it’s important to touch people in ways they don’t expect, especially touching them with laughter, which is becoming really rare.”
He added, “A sense of humor is important.” “Before we can fix the hair, we have to fix the brain.”