Just when you think Anderson, a former TV star and Playboy Bunny, was past her peak, she stuns in the most surprising way. Earlier this month, the star debuted a new look while attending Paris Fashion Week, showing up without so much as a smidge of makeup on her face.
The look was even more surprising if you remember Pamela’s signature look in the ‘90s, with her heavily pencilled eyebrows and lined lips. Be honest, you would not have named Pamela Anderson as the star you’d see speaking out against societal beauty standards. Yet here we find ourselves.
Back in January, Anderson told Dax Shepard on the Armchair Expert podcast she couldn’t wait to see herself getting old. “I want to let my hair go kind of natural grey, put my little straw hat on, [not] wear makeup,” she added.
Jamie Lee Curtis, one of the many stars to praise Pamela Anderson’s look, called it a “natural beauty revolution” and said on social media she was “so impressed and floored by this act of courage and rebellion”.
Pamela looked beautiful, of course, but what we really need to talk about is the reaction to her fresh look - why society still finds it surprising that a woman would be photographed looking like herself.
That being seen without makeup on can be “an act of courage” tells you everything you need to know about the ridiculous beauty standards women still grapple with in the year of our Lorde 2023 and how far we still have to go. Her decision to go to Paris Fashion Week without makeup on is a radical one, but it shouldn’t be.
Pamela Anderson likes ageing, and she’s right to like it. What’s not to like? Ageing is a wonderful privilege that not many get to enjoy.
Despite that fact, a star choosing to forego makeup is still worthy of headlines and women regularly get criticised for “letting themselves go” when, really, they’re just choosing not to spend their one wild and precious life chasing stupidly unattainable beauty standards.
We also find ourselves living in a weird time where everything can be weaponised and, for that reason, we have to be careful that, in glorifying her stance on ageing and the idea of “ageing naturally”, we do not shame people who, for whatever reason (that is their business and none of ours), choose to make the process less visible.
It is also important to remember that it is a lot easier to openly reject beauty standards when your natural looks are still pretty damn close to most people’s “ideal” of beauty.
Still, Pamela Anderson is, like all of us, getting old. She’s allowing herself to age without trying to control the process. She’s allowing the passage of time to be reflected on her skin, like so many others do. She’s just being. It should not be a brave or courageous thing to do, but it is.
In doing nothing, she’s doing the most radical thing of all.
