Dressed: The History of Fashion · Dressed Media

The Red Menace: How Lipstick Changed the Face of American History, an interview with Ilise S. Carter, part II (Dressed Classic)

January 23, 2026·52 min·5 clips

Learn how a copywriter transformed makeup from catching a man to a powerful act of self-determination.

The opening ad and archive setup frame the main discussion. Once the Dressed archive segment begins, the episode returns to part two of the conversation with Ilyse S. Carter about The Red Menace. The tone is warm, but the ideas have teeth. A host points to the move from the leaner 1970s into a much bigger 1980s makeup language. Blade Runner becomes the first real anchor. The guest reads Daryl Hannah's look through mainstream versions of punk and new wave, where subculture has already been polished for a wider audience. Then Rachel comes in. Her bumper bangs, red lip, exaggerated lashes, and Joan Crawford echo make the future look oddly old-fashioned, glossy, and controlled. Dynasty carries a similar charge. The decade's beauty language is large and deliberate, more about display than soft correction or barely there naturalness. The red lip becomes a power lip. The guest connects that look to broad shoulders and to women becoming more visible in corporate and political life, though the welcome is limited. Margaret Thatcher is the clearest example. Her public image, as described here, pairs authority with familiar feminine signals: the beehive, the pussycat bow, the small purse. That tension gives the episode its bite. Power seems easier for the culture to accept when it comes wrapped in recognizable feminine styling, even when the authority itself makes people uneasy. The hosts leave space for the guest, and the visual references do a lot of the historical work. The clip closes with housekeeping, book recommendations, and ad-free subscription notes. The stronger material comes earlier, in the discussion of makeup as a bargain between glamour, gender, and power.

As heard by us

Lipstick becomes a history of power, femininity, and the politics of appearance.

This episode treats lipstick as a signal of power, femininity, and the easier path authority sometimes takes when it is dressed in softer markers.

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Why you'd press play

You want lipstick history that reaches from wartime femininity to 1980s power dressing.

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