It’s an ironic coincidence I’m sure, that a major airline chose International Women’s Day to announce that it’s no longer compulsory for their female flight attendants to wear make-up.
Well, hello boys. You’re coming a tad late to Women’s Liberation. Doubtless other airlines will follow suit.
Years ago, I knew a very pretty girl who went to train as what was known then as an ‘air hostess’. Standards were stringent. Age, weight and grooming were constantly monitored; long hair compulsorily worn ‘up’ and features enamelled into impassivity by full make-up; figure-hugging jackets, tight skirts and heels were de rigeur. They were glorified waitresses under the command of a Tango-tanned suavely-uniformed male steward.
That image was first forged in an era when flying was glamorous and for the fortunate few. It persists almost unaltered to the present day, though flying is no more unusual to us cattle-class passengers than hopping on a bus in our jeans, trainers and backpacks.
I remember my first flight at fifteen, from Belfast to London. Dressed in my best with a little vanity case, we boarded. The air hostesses were creatures of impossible allure, elegantly uniformed with a lot of lipstick, very blue eyeshadow and big white smiles. They passed round barley sugar sweets “to stop your ears from popping”. I was grand until the engines started throbbing and instantly regretted my insistence on a window seat. I sat, stomach churning and eyes squidged shut for the whole journey and the entire London experience was tainted by the prospect of having to fly back. I still hate flying, but at least now, a stiff gin can invest me with temporary immortality.
The airline’s new ‘barefaced’ option puzzles me. Traditionally, their marketing image is still markedly beauty and service oriented, even though cabin crew have been socially downgraded in the public eye to ‘flight attendant’ and ‘trolley dolly’ whose on-board reality is likely to be patient, steely, smiling courtesy in the face of ignorant gulpins demanding drink, creating a racket and making sexist remarks.
We live in a ‘lookist’ society where people are judged on appearance and never have more women been more cosmeticised. Surely that’s an odd contradiction in terms, now that women have won the freedom to present themselves exactly as they please. Yet our popular female icons are artificially sculpted beyond recognition – and nature. In the age of the selfie, eight-year-olds are daubing themselves in glitter and lip-gloss, posing and pouting in seductive imitation of their adopted idols. These days, there’s hardly a celebrity identifiable from their childhood photographs.
The cosmetics industry is coining it with a million products and a thousand processes we never knew we needed and an army of skilled practitioners to administer them, with the flatteringly persuasive marketing message, “because you’re worth it”. A young friend tells me that injectable ‘fillers’ are on the wish list of many 16 and 17 year-olds who yearn for the bee-stung plumpness of Kylie Jenner’s lips. Many of her sixth-form contemporaries already have their eyebrows microbladed (the colour tattooed on).
All my generation had at that age was acne, or freckles, or both. Apparently, some cosmeticians are adept at combining art and science to create ‘no make-up’ make-up, which strikes me as the ultimate definition of a barefaced lie. Paying to be made up so you don’t look made up? You couldn’t make it up! Historically, adornment of the face and/or body has always been used to attract or repel. Self-enhancement is endemic in the human race, ever since Early Woman accidentally rubbed her eyes with sooty fingers and Early Man found the look singularly attractive. Every culture has developed its own unique body art. There are tribes still in far-flung rainforests who could give Kim Kardashian a decorative run for her money.
It’ll be interesting to see what percentage of female flight attendants choose to ‘ditch the slap’. Their working environment and conditions are far from ideal. High altitudes are immensely dehydrating, the health hazards of long flights breathing stale re-circulated air, tension, stress, fatigue and radical differences in temperature on stopovers are not kind to the complexion. My guess is, most will continue to cater to our in-flight needs in full cosmetic camouflage. Only the classically beautiful, gifted with good bone-structure, fine features and perfect skin can get away with barefaced cheek.
The rest of us need all the cosmetic help we can get. Best face forward girls!
