I like this emerging trend of men playing with makeup while women dare to wear less. Austin Butler caused a stir this week when he attended the New York Dune 2 premiere with white eyeliner. Supposedly. It was very subtle and I struggled to see it in photos. By contrast, there was absolutely no mistaking Pamela Anderson’s lack of makeup when she showed up at Paris Fashion Week last fall. Pam has been going makeup-free as a matter of routine lately, to overwhelmingly positive feedback. Behind the scenes, though, there were those who were less enthused… her sons! In a new interview with Highsnobiety, Pam recounts that they (and her agents!) were “horrified.”
Pamela Anderson covers Highsnobiety’s spring 2024 issue in a striking menswear look and her now-signature no-makeup look, opening up to the mag about her less-is-more aesthetic and why her DIY approach to fashion “horrified” her sons.
The “Baywatch” alum, 56, poses in a gray three-piece suit and tie on the cover, with the gardening enthusiast wrapping a blue hose around her neck as she gives the camera a steely gaze.
Anderson goes makeup-free on the cover, telling the publication that her “face gets more interesting with age.”
“My boys were like, ‘Mom, you must have a glam team.’ And my agents were like, ‘You have to have a glam team! Where’s the stylist?’” she admitted in the interview.
However, the cover model — who shares sons Brandon Thomas Lee, 27, and Dylan Lee, 26, with her ex-husband Tommy Lee, 61 — shared she’d rather handle things herself.
“I go, ‘I know how to put a dress on myself. I don’t need someone buttoning up my blouse. I got this.’ And they were just horrified.”
The Canadian beauty told Highsnobiety that she’s “harvested” her beauty routine from her garden, making her own oils.
“I make rose oil, which I do with rose hips,” she said. “I’m interested in my Epsom salts, olive oils, and shea butter.”
As for fashion, Anderson — who posed in a variety of designer menswear looks for the shoot — said she likes to borrow from the boys in real life, too.
“I like wearing my ex-boyfriend’s Carhartt,” she revealed, adding, “He was a construction worker.”
The “Love, Pamela” author — who went viral for attending Paris Fashion Week sans makeup — also shared her thoughts on success, admitting that her sons can be “materialistic.”
“I feel successful because I’ve overcome and gotten through certain things and feelings. And this drives my kids nuts because my kids are ambitious. They’re calculated. They’re men,” she shared.
Anderson continued that Brandon and Dylan are “young, and they have all this passion. But they’re materialistic, and I keep going, ‘Eh, it’ll pass.’”
It’s not merely that Pam is going makeup-free these days. It’s that she’s sans-makeup and somehow looks more glowing than ever. I recommend the full Highsnobiety article, where you can tell the glow comes from lots of healing and growth and self-work. (Well, that and the garden of oils and potions she’s got brewing.) A particularly moving quote was, “You fall in love with people there to expose a part of yourself that you need to get through. Relationships are mirrors.” I like this era of Pamela. And as for her boys, well first of all I love the image of young men going “Mom, where is your glam team?!” But I actually found it really refreshing to hear how relaxed she was about them. She sees them clearly, warts and all. Yet she recognizes it’s where they’re at right now, not forever.
photos credit: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon, Olivier Huitel/Julie Edwards/Avalon, Backgrid and via Instagram
Leave a reply