OPEN POST: Generation X Beauty is Changing the Game and a Bonus: When Animals Take Out the Trash
Gen X beauty, the cool, detached, slightly subversive aesthetic embodied by women like Winona Ryder, the real Supermodels (Linda, Christy, Naomi, Kate, Shalom, Helena), Sade Adu, Lisa Bonet, Angelina Jolie, and Uma Thurman, to name a few, is having a quiet but very intentional resurgence, and companies are paying attention. This is the anti-performative face of beauty: matte skin, undone hair, minimal fuss, a kind of emotional distance that reads as power rather than effort. In a market saturated with hyper-curated routines, poreless skin, and influencer maximalism that no one with a life has time for, brands are rediscovering the commercial appeal of restraint. You’re seeing it in campaigns that lean into healthy, realistic skin, pared-down makeup, and a return to individuality over algorithmic perfection. It’s not nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake, though; it’s strategy. Consumers are fatigued by overkill and searches for unrealistic optimization, and Gen X beauty ideals offe...