Mod Makeup is the Retro Beauty Trend Making a Comeback
The nostalgic allure of the Swinging '60s continues to be seen in artfully executed makeup harking back to the Mod era, with cat eyeliner with the sharpest of wings, cut crease shadow accentuating the hood of the eyelid, and lashes for days. Current It girls like Ariana Grande and Kaia Gerber have tapped into the radically stylistic makeup inspired by the Mods–a subculture of stylish London youth who described themselves as modernists. Before Grande or Gerber, however, Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton were the faces of the 1960s Youth Quake.
Proclaimed to be the “Face of 1966,” model Twiggy once explained, “What happened for the first time in the mid-'60s is that we didn't want to look like our mums, we wanted to look different.’” With a collective non-conformist ethos, the youth sparked a revolution through their space aged looks and bohemian trends.
Similar to the socially and politically turbulent times of the 1960s, Millennials and Gen Z continue to fight the status-quo with invividual autonomy and expressive agency. Unafraid to stand up or stand out, young people are using fashion and beauty to make a statement. Acting as an homage to the Kennedy era, Grande’s Positions album cover art and music video for the eponymous single sees the powerhouse vocalist donning flippy bouffants and Jackie O inspired garb, pillbox hats and all, while singing and dancing in a recreation of the White House. But the real vintage standout is her quintessentially ‘60s glam, with fierce eyeliner, cut crease eyeshadow, and endless, voluminous lashes. Blowing up on social media, Grande's makeup has become the latest TikTok trend with thousands of users showing off their own Mod makeup or creating tutorials so others can copy Grande’s covetable look.
Model Gerber also had a recent transformation, as she and boyfriend Jacob Elordi decided to make a retro reference for Halloween. Dressing as a convincing Elvis and Priscilla Presley, Gerber’s look came courtesy of hairstylist Charlie Le Mindu and makeup artist Sam Visser, who has also created Mod-inspired glam for celebrities like Lily-Rose Depp. Calling on the style of Sharon Tate, who's beauty influence came back into the spolight with Margot Robbie's portrayal of the actress in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Visser transferred her signature negative space, cut-crease eyeliner looks to Depp.
For more of a '60s fix, Netflix's newly released The Queen’s Gambit sees Anya Taylor Joy in Natalie Wood-inspired glam. Joy’s character, Beth Harmon, attempts to emulate the style of the moment with floating eyeliner amid a pill bender while jamming out to Shocking Blue’s "I’m Your Venus." As the show channels the inimitable period, it proves that we can’t get enough of counterculture makeup.
With statement-making doe eyes, fully equipped with mascara-coated spidery lashes, two-toned lids with ultra-high arches, and negative space liner, typically paired with angled brows, a blushed cheek, and a nude pout, Mod beauty is once again the look of the moment.
