SEMINAL BEAUTY LOOKS FROM 90S FILMS

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Film / Fashion & Beauty

SEVEN SEMINAL BEAUTY LOOKS FROM 90S FILMS

Published on 03 April 2017

words Kitty Robson

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Remembering the 90s for what it was, as a decade of first-rate cinema, is what incited us to seek out the best beauty looks from the crop of garish, gothic and futuristic characters that made this period of film history so memorable. Echoing a few of the sentiments that permeated 90s culture; utopian visions of the future, the problematic sexualisation of mental health issues and teenage witches, these are the imitable iconic beauty looks of the most referenced decade in recent cultural memory.

AMERICAN BEAUTY, MENA SUVARI AS ANGELA HAYES

Mena Suvari encapsulated, and subverted, the definitive American cheerleader in Sam Mendes’ iconic 1999 film. Dreamily immersed in rose petals with matching red lipstick, Angela embodied the arthouse Hollywood look. Platinum waves cascading down and pink lips pouting, the dreamy dance scene is made all the more hypnotic with the help of perfectly lined eyes and shimmering green shadow which, on paper, sounds OTT but fits the narcissistic temptress perfectly. To complete the look: try to seduce your best friend’s dad.

BUFFALO 66, CHRISTINA RICCI AS LAYLA

As far as iconic makeup looks go, Christina Ricci’s transformation into Layla is about as 90s as it gets. As a platinum blonde with alabaster skin, the tap dancing dreamer glows on the screen: her pixie features amplified by glazes of sparkling highlighter. And what could be more 90s than lashings of blue glitter-pigmented eyeshadow, topped off with dark falsies, the ultimate nostalgic doe-eyed dream. The easiest part to work? The high-gloss lip, adding the finishing touch to creating the ultimate dewy beauty masterpiece: the ultimate cutesy-glam to the ghostly gaunt of co-star, writer and director Vincent Gallo.

LOST HIGHWAY, PATRICIA ARQUETTE AS RENEE MADISON AND ALICE WAKEFIELD

Femme fatale doesn’t even begin to cover what Patricia Arquette is to Lost Highway, but one of the only ways you can make sense of this Lynchian spider-web of a plot is the sharp distinction between Arquette’s two looks. As Renee, she sets up the intrigue with her gothic yet opulent aesthetic, consisting of darkly toned red lipstick, thickly lined piercing eyes and black-as-her-soul nail polish, completed with shadowy bangs. Transformed into Alice, she glimmers with an old Hollywood glamour rivalled only by Rita Hayworth herself: pastel glowing lids, subtle cat-eyes with perfectly lined dusty pink lips – eat your heart out Kylie J lip-kits, Patricia’s been killing the game since 1997.

NATURAL BORN KILLERS, JULIETTE LEWIS AS MALLORY KNOX

The film which made Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis the new Bonnie and Clyde is full of looks as killer as the characters themselves, with the ultimate being the ever-evolving beauty of Mallory Knox, Lewis’ perfectly played psycho-killer. Mallory’s looks are worked into psychedelic frenzy of Natural Born Killers, with her beauty varying from the pseudo-sit-com spiky dark hair-do with contouring blush and classic 90s orange toned red lips, to bouncy blonde and a dark Hollywood-red. The perfect guise for when you’re naturally born bad.

THE CRAFT, FAIRUZA BALK AS NANCY DOWNS

As teen horror fantasy films go, The Craft captures the occult-inspired looks without entering too creepy a realm thanks to the mysterious beauty of Fairuza Balk’s protagonist. Nancy is the go-to gothic inspiration from the 90s: perfectly arched angry brows, smouldering black smoky eyes, overdrawn dark red/purple lips, what more could a witch want?

FIRE WALK WITH ME, DAVID BOWIE AS PHILLIP JEFFRIES

Who better to name a seminal look creator than Bowie, as even though his role in Fire Walk With Me is technically a small part, David Lynch knows how to exploit the icon’s presence enough to make him as rememberable as ever – not that it’s hard. Bowie’s look is as simple as his cosmetics gets, and so it’s all in the hair: for Fire Walk With Me, it seems to have been given the Lynch treatment, making it as flowing and quaffed as the directors notorious locks. If Lynch can take the look out of the 90s to the modern day, so can you.

THE FIFTH ELEMENT, MILLA JOVOVICH AS LEELOO

Probably the only overtly cosplayed look on the list is Luc Besson’s transformation of Milla Jovovich into Leeloo, the fiery-haired sci-fi icon who wouldn’t look out of place in a Yeezy show in 2017. With her matted orange tresses, smudged kohl liner and bleached brows, it’s a bold beauty move for the everyday, but if Taylor Swift can attempt to mirror the white bandaged outfit in Bad Blood then you can definitely give the makeup aesthetic a better go.