I never considered beauty an accessible avenue of self-expression as it struck me as belonging to people who were prettier, cooler or more stylish than I was. I avoided beauty for most of my childhood as a defence mechanism, a sort of rebellion against the expectation to be “traditionally feminine” that runs rampant in many South Asian families.
Personally, I have large tattoos, a septum ring and long nails; I love a dirty martini and a dirty joke. I’m excited about taking up as much abundant, expansive space as possible in a world that expects me to fit into a single box based on what it reads about me on the page.
I blossomed when I stopped taking beauty advice from people who didn’t look like me. I found that when I did so, the beauty world opened and felt less like an obligation and more like a possibility.
There’s a sense of joy and power in letting go of the standards you see around you and focusing on the things that excite you creatively and make you feel most beautiful instead. We should not be foreigners in our own bodies.”
Below, Topaz Winters shares her beauty inspirations.
Jewel Thief
I would sneak out of my childhood bedroom at night to peer over the living room couch at the English and Hindi films my parents would watch together. I particularly loved the bits I could catch of “Jewel Thief” and the wildly ostentatious fashion that marked it.
Each of the four leading women has a style that perfectly complements her character and role in the narrative.
Photo Credit: Navketan Films
Subversion of Gender
I love people who play with beauty standards to create a look that’s entirely singular and ferociously noticeable. Alok Vaid-Menon’s joyful subversion of gender delights me. Tina Chow’s minimalist androgyny is also so compelling to me.
Photo Credit: Alok Vaid-Menon
Fatimah Asghar
I immediately think of Fatimah Asghar’s thick eyebrows and cat eyeliner for modern beauty inspiration.
My writing is full of rapturous wonder as much as sombre reflection, and in real life, I seize the opportunity to indulge in play beyond the pressure to conform to one beauty aesthetic.
Photo Credit: Fatimah Asghar
The Organic
My beauty ethos is heavily inspired by the organic—the rolls of fat in a human body emulate the rolling waves on an ocean, and the light and shadow that compose a sunset which are the same visual manner we use to highlight and contour.
Photo Credit: Monica Kozu / Unsplash
A Red Lip
Outside of writers, I love a good red lip à la Audrey Hepburn and Sade. I’ve also recently been inspired by Elsa Peretti to wear my clownishly large glasses out as a fashion accessory.
Photo Credit: Hollywood Archive