From Pam Grier to Pam Anderson, we unpack the pop cultural history of the smoky eye – and how it became shorthand for seduction, sex and power
Welcome to Beauty School, the corner of Dazed Beauty dedicated to learning. From guides to brief histories, this is where we shed light on past subcultural movements and educate our readers on current trends and various goings-on.
Witches, goths, bold glam girlies, indie-sleaze band groupies – the smoky eye has transcended all subcultures and allegiances to become a symbol of universal sultry confidence. The ultimate in grimey glamour, in films the characters who wear their eye make-up smoky are strong, bold and sexy. They could be the hot and manipulative femme fatale, or the mystic with intuitive old soul qualities. But they are never modest or innocent – the smoky eye is not for the girl next door.
Eyeshadow and eyeliner stem back to ancient times, when women would use charcoal or soot – usually created by burning cork or some type of wood – and smudge it on their eyes. At the beginning of the film industry, especially in silent films, actors would line their eyes with kohl to help them stand out in black and white (you can see images of Charlie Chaplin with eyeliner on). German actress Marlene Dietrich famously took soot and mixed it with Vaseline to create a dark grey eyeshadow.
In the late 1950s and 60s, Sophia Loren and Brigitte Bardot’s dramatic cat eyes became a must-have beauty trend. Films including And God Created Woman, A Very Private Affair and Arabesque were, and still are, huge beauty inspirations. In the 70s and 80s, characters like Foxy Brown (Pam Grier) and May Day (Grace Jones) cemented the smoky eye as the make-up of choice for strong, powerful women, while goth icons Morticia Addams (Anjelica Huston) and Elvira (Cassandra Peterson) brought a dark sexiness to it.
In the 80s and 90s, the matte smokey eye reigned supreme thanks to the influence of make-up artists like Kevyn Aucoin and Alexis Vogel who created Pamela Anderson’s trademark beauty look which was on full display in the 1996 film Barb Wire. Anderson’s look combined the grimey aesthetic of grunge with the high glamour left over from the supermodels of the 80s, to create a look that was high-voltage sexy and powerful.
Currently we are seeing a shift from the sparkly, dewy and precise make-up that Euphoria popularised to more grimey, sleazy, matte looks with smudged eyeliner and prominent dark circles. It-girls such as Gabriette (who takes inspiration from the Latinx Chola community), Julia Fox and her graphic eye looks, and Aoife Cullen on TikTok are leading this, as well as the Pamaissance. The smoky eye is back, and it feels like it never really left.
SIREN OF THE TROPICS (1927)
The 1927 French silent film Siren of the Tropics stars the famous cabaret dancer and bisexual spy Josephine Baker as Papitou, a woman from a Spanish colony who falls in love with a Frenchman and follows him back to Paris. Among many other firsts, with this film Baker became the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture. If you ignore the blatant racism, misogyny and creepiness of the plot, you can notice a beautiful glossy smokey eye that just glows on the screen. An it-girl at the time, Baker was famous for her avant-garde costumes and make-up as well as her “tanned” complexion – so much so that she went on to release Bakeroil, one of the first ever tanning oils on the market.
ARABESQUE (1966)
Hollywood’s smoky eye queen, Sophia Loren famously did her own make-up on set and for events. Her signature look consisted of lipstick on her cheeks, brushed thick eyebrows and white liner in the waterline dragged out under her cat-eye to make the eyes look bigger. She would use black eyeliner and water the product down to use as eyeshadow, as allegedly her eyelids were too oily causing normal eyeshadow to melt, and would complete the look with a full-set of lashes.
Dressed in an iconic pink body and hair towel set in her 1966 film Arabesque, she is the epitome of sexy and fabulous. The comedy crime thriller follows a professor (Gregory Peck) uncovering a scheme against a Middle Eastern politician. The plot is riveting, the performances are avant-garde, the costumes are designed by Christian Dior – it’s a classic Hollywood picture worth checking out.
FOXY BROWN (1974)
Part of the “Blaxploitation” wave of films (such as Shaft and Dolemite Is My Name) that were created to capitalise on a Black audience, Foxy Brown is one of the most influential. The film became the poster child for the Black women’s power movement, creating a new type of character: the strong, independent woman who doesn’t accept victimisation.
Foxy Brown is a tale of revenge as Foxy (Pam Grier) goes on a quest to find her boyfriend’s murderers. With her luscious afro and leather jacket, Grier wears this airbrushed, classic smoked out matte shadow with fluttering eyelashes and a nude brown lip. She’s powerful and unstoppable in both attitude and looks, a true boss.
CET OBSCUR OBJET DU DÉSIR (1977)
That Obscure Object of Desire, the critically acclaimed Spanish-French film from the 1970s, explores the dark side of desire. It’s an erotic melodrama of a widower, Matthieu, who is being tortured by his lust for a young flamenco dancer named Conchita.
Director Luis Buñuel made the obscure decision of using two actresses for the role of Conchita, and using them interchangeably in scenes. With separate approaches, temperaments and costumes, the actresses delve into surrealism. Angela Molina’s version of Conchita is more earthy and warm, with sultry smoky eyes that invite you in. Carole Bouquet’s look and performance on the other hand was deemed more cool and enigmatic. Is it the duality of the character or is she just two-faced? Watch to find out.
A VIEW TO KILL (1985)
With her opulent 1980s disco glam vibe and gender-bending aesthetics Grace Jones has never failed to serve. In the James Bond film A View To Kill, she portrays May Day, a fierce bodyguard and assassin. One, if not the, most iconic Bond girl, Jones’ performance and her looks are bold and powerful. Dressed in Azzedine Alaïa with a sharp pink and black smoked-out cat eye and a rich-red lip, she has not shied away from experimenting with strong looks – both on screen and in her music career.
Her character in 1980s horror film Vamp is also worth noting: her wig, graphic eyeliner and white-painted face are strikingly sinister to say the least.
ELVIRA: MISTRESS OF THE DARK (1988)
The cult comedy horror based on the 1980s TV program Elvira’s Movie Macabre sees TV presenter Elvira quitting her job because of sexual harassment in her workplace – typical. She inherits her great aunt’s home in a more puritanical community, who all consider her to be a bad influence. Elvira brought us the iconic line “How’s your head?” “I haven’t had any complaints yet,” which has become an ongoing reference in RuPaul’s Drag Race. Her wig is poofy, her smokey eyes are graphic, her lipstick is bright red and her cheeks are a popping pink. It’s all very camp and gothically fabulous.
THE ADDAMS FAMILY (1991)
Originally conceived by cartoonist Charles Addams, macabre matriarch Morticia Addams has taken many forms in almost a dozen adaptations. But Anjelica Huston in the 90s dark family comedy films remains the most iconic of them all. With her cynical humour, long black hair and bold glam of all-black everything, blood-red lipstick and airbrushed black shadow on her crease, she’s giving us the ultimate goth matriarch fantasy. “I’m just like any modern woman trying to have it all,” she says in the film. “Loving husband, a family. It’s just, I wish I had more time to seek out the dark forces and join their hellish crusade.” Don’t we all.
SHOWGIRLS (1995)
The 1990s erotic drama thriller that infamously destroyed Elizabeth Berkley’s career follows an aspiring dancer who hitchhikes to Las Vegas, hoping to become a showgirl. Nomi Malone (Berkley) starts out at a strip club called the Cheetah and we see her fucking her way to the top as a showgirl at Stardust Hotel. It’s all very Lana Del Rey vinyl. The costumes are glamorous, the make-up is theatrical and experimental with a lot of rhinestones and glitter. You can see the influence of Showgirls on new-gen pop culture, such as the make-up in Euphoria. It’s exploitative and over-the-top, but it’s intrinsically pure camp. With quotes such as “Nice dress” “Thanks I bought it at Vers-ayce!” Showgirls has rightfully become a cult classic.
BARB WIRE (1996)
Since last year we have witnessed the return of the skinny brow, matte skin and smokey waterline, all thanks to Pam and her powerful comeback. A futuristic remake of Casablanca, Barb Wire was supposed to be the iconic 90s bombshell’s big Hollywood breakout, but tanked in the box office and received bad reviews. In spite of that, it has gained a cult following since.
In the comic book-based film set in a dystopian 2017 during the second American civil war, Anderson plays bounty hunter and club owner Barb Wire. She’s dressed in a hot leather catsuit and gloves, big tousled blonde hair and her signature smoky eye. Alexis Vogel, Pam’s personal make-up artist who followed her through most of her career, did the make-up on set, and is responsible for the iconic vixen eye that Pam is known for today. Fun fact: during filming Pam got a barbed wire tattoo on her arm so that the make-up artists didn’t have to paint it every day.
THE CRAFT (1996)
Witches in film might have started out as ugly, old hags, but during the 1980s and 1990s the witch got a cool makeover – see Practical Magic, Charmed and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. And, obviously, (oc)cult film The Craft. The blueprint of the whimsigoth aesthetic, director Andrew Fleming wanted a gothy, punk element in the costumes.
“Nancy Downs (Fairuza Balk) was possibly the most damaged character in the film,” said costume designer Deborah Everton back in 2016. “Her clothes were like armour to her – she would scare people off.” The same can be said for her make-up – dark vampy lips and smudgy eyeliner with brown eyeshadow on a Tuesday morning English class? Yes, please. It has a striking and almost aggressive effect, which contrasts the fresh faces of the other girls at her school.
VELVET GOLDMINE (1998)
Cult film Velvet Goldmine stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers as a bisexual pop star Brian Slade who fakes his own death. Ten years later he is tracked down by a journalist who wants to write an article about his life. The film is partly inspired by David Bowie’s life and persona, and you can see his influences and the 1970s glam rock in the colourful make-up and outfits. In one of the looks, wearing a sparkly and feathery catsuit and a blue spikey wig, Slade has this beautiful, modern dark brown smoked shadow, which is blended with a terracotta colour under the eyes – similar to the dark circle make-up trend on TikTok today.
ALFIE (2004)
The 2004 remake of the classic Michael Cane film, starring mid-noughties power couple Jude Law and Sienna Miller, very much pays homage to the rockstar girlfriend, Bardot look of the 60s – a look very much coveted by all the British it-girlies of the era (see Alexa Chung). It’s giving indie sleaze in the most authentic way. The mid-noughties boho bombshell look that Miller became known for consists of a minimal base, frosty lip gloss, a smudgy cat eye and a teased up, perfectly messy fringe (we can assume that they used a lot of dry shampoo on set).
LADY VENGEANCE (2005)
Red represents everything that a smokey eye stands for: passion, strength, anger, and in this case: revenge. A red smokey eye doubles the symbolism. From Park Chan-wook, the director of cult Korean action movie Oldboy, the gory and darkly funny Lady Vengeance is about, well, vengeance. After being wrongfully imprisoned, protagonist Geum-ja Lee is released after 13 years in prison and aims to take revenge for the murder she didn’t commit. Throughout the film, actress Lee Young-ae has this very editorial red eyeshadow. “What’s with the blood-red eyeshadow?” she gets asked in the film. “I don’t want to look kind-hearted,” she replies.
GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (2009)
What’s relatable about hacker Lisbeth Salander, AKA the girl with the dragon tattoo, is her emo fringe, nose piercings, and the fact that she’s not wearing any other make-up on her face apart from a smudged eye pencil all the way into the waterline. You can call it a 2009 time capsule. And unlike the English version, which portrayed Lisbeth with an equally minimal but more editorial look (think Balenciaga), the Swedish one looks more realistic, like she did it herself. Set in Stockholm, the murder mystery thriller hunts down the murder of a young girl from 40 years ago, it’s eerie and it’s gripping – it’s the ultimate Scandinavian noir.
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