“Before we had a hit record, we had to make an impression with our style,” Ronnie Spector recounts in Be My Baby (Henry Holt), her time capsule memoir with a new edition out next month. (She signed off on revisions shortly before her death, in January, at 78.) As newcomers in 1962, the Ronettes were seen as much as heard, with their beehives and makeup. “When we got on stage, the kids went wild, and the louder they applauded, the more eyeliner we’d put on the next time.”
That trademark makeup gesture—classicism edging, millimeter by millimeter, toward transgression—is itself a song that plays on repeat. At Batsheva’s spring 2022 show, models wore exaggerated cat eyes, which evoked kitsch (echoed by the bouffant wigs) and metal (Ministry on the soundtrack). Dior’s mod runway offered a subtle riff: thin parallel wings that recalled vintage ballet makeup.
A judiciously heavy hand is also cause for fanfare, as Julia Fox proved after arriving nearly incognito to the Schiaparelli couture show. The impulse to pile on liner feels right: part homage to the much loved Spector, part identity shift, part pick-me-up. Backstage, designer Batsheva Hay explained how she likes to bring in darkness to offset the “froofiness of the clothes.” But that morning, as she sat down to get her own stark cat eye, Hay was all smiles: “You’re going to make my day with this eye.”
Extra Credit
“It definitely takes a certain character type to wear decals,” says Donni Davy, the mastermind behind Euphoria’s obsessed-over makeup. But one need not be an art kid to relish instant transformation—whether a rhinestone-dusted face (at Fendi’s spring 2022 couture show) or a spiked baby-doll lash (on Katy Perry for SNL).
Pro Tip
Seven talents share their signature liners for stage, screen, and life—from crisp flicks to pencil-thin mustaches. Illustrations by Jaya Nicely.
AVRIL LAVIGNE, emo icon with a new album, Love Sux, wears MAC eye kohl in Smolder: “I use my fingertip to smudge it out. It looks even better the next morning!”
MICHÈLE LAMY, Owenscorp cofounder (with Rick Owens) and executive manager of art and furniture, likes Kiko Milano Deep Black kajal: “I wear it as the nomads do in the desert!”
JULIETTE LEWIS, actor on Yellowjackets, recommends Charlotte Tilbury Rock ’n’ Kohl pencil in Bedroom Black: “My character Natalie, she’s a perpetual eyeliner wearer. Always smoky/smudgy.”
TAUBA AUERBACH, artist with a survey at SFMOMA, wears 100% Pure Long Last liquid liner: “I’ve tried so many, and this is far and away my favorite. It’s vegan and stays on better than all the ones with nasty chemicals.”
JOHN WATERS, director and Search Party guest star, draws his mustache with Maybelline Expert Wear in Velvet Black: “My entire identity depends on this magic little wand of sleaze.
ISAMAYA FFRENCH, makeup artist with a debut EP out with Alto Arc, wears Sensai Designing liquid liner: “I love its perfect inky black color. I use it for an everyday bold cat eye, or more graphic looks if the mood is edgier.”
TAYLOR STANLEY, New York City Ballet principal dancer onstage this month, goes light with MAC eye kohl in Feline: “Lately I have felt more drawn to simplicity, presenting as natural a face as I can. I do just enough to make my eyes pop.”
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