Because she's worth it: the natural blonde from Grace Kelly to Nicole Kidman
Because she's worth it: the natural blonde from Grace Kelly to Nicole Kidman
This article investigates the phenomenon of the ‘natural blonde’ as an ideal of feminine beauty, looking at notions of blond glamour in the 1950s and their deconstruction in recent periods. The article explores the fabricated nature of natural blondness and its relationship to changes in the beauty industry, stardom and celebrity culture since the late 1940s. The role of the beauty industry in fashioning star identities is analysed in relation to Grace Kelly, whose smooth, wavy, fair hair was a crucial element in defining her style as the ultimate cool blonde, an icon of understated elegance and impeccable grooming. Her ‘natural blonde’ look was crafted to produce an aspirational image of white femininity with specific class attributes, an ideal that was challenged in her film roles. Social change contributed to the decline of this ideal, as ‘natural’ beauty increas- ingly became something that could be acquired rather than an innate quality, and ‘ironic blondness’ gathered momentum. Nicole Kidman’s trajectory from flame-haired tomboy to epitome of manufactured blond star glamour, along with her impersonation of Grace Kelly in the 2014 film Grace of Monaco, is used to illuminate these cultural shifts.
natural blondes, grace kelly, beauty industry and stardom, nicole kidman, commodity stardom, grace of monaco, performance, ‘beauty premium’
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Cook, Pam
970b2927-f8b3-4c77-9e28-51048b323b72
Cook, Pam
970b2927-f8b3-4c77-9e28-51048b323b72
Abstract
This article investigates the phenomenon of the ‘natural blonde’ as an ideal of feminine beauty, looking at notions of blond glamour in the 1950s and their deconstruction in recent periods. The article explores the fabricated nature of natural blondness and its relationship to changes in the beauty industry, stardom and celebrity culture since the late 1940s. The role of the beauty industry in fashioning star identities is analysed in relation to Grace Kelly, whose smooth, wavy, fair hair was a crucial element in defining her style as the ultimate cool blonde, an icon of understated elegance and impeccable grooming. Her ‘natural blonde’ look was crafted to produce an aspirational image of white femininity with specific class attributes, an ideal that was challenged in her film roles. Social change contributed to the decline of this ideal, as ‘natural’ beauty increas- ingly became something that could be acquired rather than an innate quality, and ‘ironic blondness’ gathered momentum. Nicole Kidman’s trajectory from flame-haired tomboy to epitome of manufactured blond star glamour, along with her impersonation of Grace Kelly in the 2014 film Grace of Monaco, is used to illuminate these cultural shifts.
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Accepted/In Press date: 8 September 2015
e-pub ahead of print date: 3 November 2015
Keywords:
natural blondes, grace kelly, beauty industry and stardom, nicole kidman, commodity stardom, grace of monaco, performance, ‘beauty premium’
Organisations:
Faculty of Humanities
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Local EPrints ID: 385042
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/385042
ISSN: 1939-2397
PURE UUID: 11a23e31-97af-4e37-8760-7dc8b311a308
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Date deposited: 15 Jan 2016 09:39
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 22:09
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Author:
Pam Cook
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