Revised and updated critical survey of the field of cosmetics and
adornment studies
This revised edition examines how the plays of Shakespeare and his
contemporaries dramatise the Renaissance preoccupation with cosmetics.
Farah Karim-Cooper explores the then-contentious issue of female beauty
and identifies a 'culture of cosmetics', which finds its visual identity
on the early modern stage. She also examines cosmetic recipes and
anti-cosmetic literature focusing on their relationship to drama in its
representations of gender, race, politics and beauty.
Key Features
- Offers a new analysis of the construction of whiteness as a racial
signifier
- Provides an original insight into women's cosmetic practice through an
exploration of ingredients, methods and materials used to create
cosmetics and the perception of make up in Shakespeare's time
- Includes numerous cosmetic recipes from the early modern period found
in printed books and never published in a modern edition