Have you ever heard of the Lipstick effect?
Basically, people claim that women buy more, or at least more high end cosmetics during an economic downturn.
It’s been pretty thoroughly disproven, but the concept still catches the popular imagination.
And I think that’s because while some ascribe shadier motives to this supposed trend, something about the more innocent explanation for it makes a certain sense, even if the data doesn’t quite back it up.
Women buy more make up during economic downturns, the claim goes, because they are replacing bigger luxuries like vacations, dinners out, or new shoes and bags with smaller, more attainable splurges like lipstick or nail polish. Others say it’s about boosting morale in grim times by indulging in a bit of joy. Under pressure, our sense of play comes to the surface to offer a release valve.
And yeah, that tracks.
We see it in the younger generations who believe home ownership is out of their reach no matter how much they scrimp and save so they pivot to building a life they can enjoy in the now instead of waiting for someday. Less lawn mowing, more traveling the world.
We also see it in the folks reminding us to hang on to our whimsy in between the horrors shouting from the day’s headlines.
Find something joyful, something meaningful, find your reason to hold on, because you’re not gonna make it through this if you don’t.
As artists it is part of our calling to create that joy and help others find it. (Easier said than done these days I realize but there are ways it can be done.)
People tend to tell you that if you want to make a living as an artist you only have 2 options: go the non profit route and spend more time administrating than creating, or chase super wealthy private patrons who may get bored and forget about you when the next new shiny thing comes along.
But I think that like most things there’s a 3rd often overlooked option in between the two extremes.
As the old world dies and we begin to build the new one, I believe the path forward is to turn out, not up. Build rapport with the same people we work and play and shop beside, not “collectors” who hoard art as a tax refuge.
Educate, inspire, explain. Bring honesty and transparency to the table and shuck off the pompous antagonizing that makes people reject the idea of art before art can reject them.
Artists should be woven into their society, not trying to stand distantly above it.
And if right now that means swapping out big ticket pieces for smaller more affordable ones, so be it.
At least you’ll be on the right side of history when things finally fall apart.
Lip print image by Tania Saiz, courtesy of wikimedia commons