Red Alert

ca. 1559 Queen Elizabeth I, who believed lipstick had health benefits, wore it with the white makeup she used to conceal facial scars

1783 French Queen Marie Antoinette was 28 when she sat for this portrait by Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun

19th century Carefully colored red lips were an essential aspect of a Japanese geisha’s appearance

ca. 1929 Flappers adopted the defiant look popularized earlier by Gibson Girls and suffragettes

1950s The bright hues favored by movie stars like Ava Gardner, above, and Marilyn Monroe sparked a fashion trend

1960s Yves Saint Laurent made crimson an integral part of his signature look in the 1960s—so much so that models attending castings with the designer were asked to wear red lipstick

1973 Fashion editor Diana Vreeland believed red could never be boring. The color dominated her home and office

1986 The red-lipped look of miniskirted models in the music video of Robert Palmer’s hit single “Addicted to Love” defined 1980s style

1996 For singer Gwen Stefani, the “magic’s in the makeup.” Red lipstick is one of her trademarks

2009 Inspired by the impeccable style of Parisian women, Marc Jacobs showed red lips on the runway at Louis Vuitton’s spring/summer show in Paris last fall