The China Mail - Big lips and botox: In Trump's world, fashion and makeup get political

With the rise of Trump's Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, a group of well-connected and well-off Republican women have come into the spotlight sporting what the US media have dubbed the "MAGA look."

"This has always been my look. I just found my tribe," said Rein Lively, 40, founder of "America First," a public relations agency that provides "anti-woke" services.

"It's so much bigger than politics. It's friendships. It's relationships," she told AFP in a recent interview. "That MAGA look really signals to other people that you're on the same team."

These new-style conservatives, almost always devout Christians, espouse traditional values while pursuing personal ambition.

Since the September assassination of top MAGA influencer and Trump ally Charlie Kirk, his widow Erika has taken the reins of his youth mobilization group.

During a memorial service for her husband, the 36-year-old former Miss Arizona dabbed her impeccably made-up eyes with a handkerchief and praised a Christian marriage. She cited a New Testament passage that instructs wives to submit to their husbands for protection.

"It's so hard to articulate the beauty of an Ephesians 5 marriage when you actually have a man that's worth following," she said.

- Not just fashion -

While professing family values and religious beliefs, these MAGA women are anything but shy in their appearance.

Clad in skirts and dresses, almost always wearing their hair long, they can be recognized by heavy makeup, which includes well-defined eyebrows and "contouring," a technique that uses dark and light shades to sculpt the face.

Many opt for cosmetic interventions, including fillers and surgery to achieve fuller cheeks, plumper lips and a refined nose.

Rein Lively points to Trump's daughter Ivanka and his daughter-in-law Lara as her role models.

"It's a mistake to dismiss this as just about fashion, just about makeup," said Juliet Williams, a professor of gender studies at UCLA. "It's actually absolutely central because this Trump MAGA movement was able to return to the White House in 2024, I believe, essentially because of leveraging the gender war."

- 'Two hours in the gym every day' -

The 79-year-old Trump has mobilized many young voters with his nationalist, pro-business and macho appeal.

The MAGA face is political because it is "a way of signaling to all women that your value depends on your attractiveness to men," said Williams, adding that Trump used to run a beauty pageant.

Rein Lively, however, rejects any idea of submission or coercion.

"By absolutely nobody's volition other than my own do I spend two hours in the gym every day, get my hair done every three and a half weeks on the button, get my nails done, get my eyebrows done, get my skincare done, get Botox," she said.

The PR consultant vied for the job of White House spokesperson for Trump's second term, but the president ultimately picked long-time loyalist Karoline Leavitt.

Leavitt, 28, has surrounded herself with young assistants who emulate her impeccably groomed look, which includes high heels, even on trips that involve a lot of running around.

"I look at these MAGA women and I don't see them as fashion victims... but I see it as war paint," Williams said. "And, you know, embracing a system that is ultimately designed to work against them."

- 'It is ironic' -

One of the women most frequently cited as embodying the so-called "MAGA face" is Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who has led Trump's hardline immigration policy.

"The long-hair extensions, the big lips, the big cheeks, the makeup, the lash extensions, it's like she's doing drag," said Daniel Belkin, a dermatologist in New York.

Belkin finds it paradoxical that MAGA supporters are hostile to drag queen shows and condemn breast augmentation and facial reconstruction surgery for transgender people. They often resort to similar procedures to accentuate their femininity and masculinity.

"It is ironic, because they're so against gender-affirming care for trans people, but they're doing gender affirming care for themselves," Belkin said.

In a recent episode, the popular animated series "South Park" ridiculed Noem as a shrew with a face butchered by cosmetic procedures, which her assistants must constantly patch up for the cameras.

"It's so lazy to just constantly make fun of women for how they look," Noem protested during a recent interview.

K.Lam--ThChM