A nuanced, feminist, and deeply personal take on beauty culture and YouTube consumerism, in the tradition of Maggie Nelson's Bluets
As Daphné B obsessively watches YouTube makeup tutorials and haunts Sephora's website, she's increasingly troubled by the ways in which this obsession contradicts her anti-capitalist, intersectional feminist politics. In a looks-obsessed, selfie-covered present where influencers make the world go round, she brings us a breath of fresh air: an anti-capitalist look at a supremely capitalist industry, an intersectional feminist look at a practice many consider misogynist. Blending together the confessional, the poetic, and the essayistic, Made-Up is a lyric meditation on an industry in full bloom.
Made-Up explores the complicated world of makeup, from how it's made to how we wear it, talking about gender, identity, capitalism, and pop culture in the process. Makeup doesn't get a lot of serious attention, it's often derided as shallow. But Daphné proves that it's worth looking at a little more in-depth.
The original French-language edition was a cult hit in Quebec. Translated by Alex Manley-like Daphné, a Montreal poet and essayist-the book's English-language text crackles with life, retaining the flair and verve of the original, and ensuring that a book on beauty is no less beautiful than its subject matter.
