No, eyeliner is not “embarrassing”, not an insult to teenagers

It should have been a connecting link of several generations. From Audrey Hepburn to Amy Winehouse via Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin, the liner has always stood out as a detail that accentuates the look by rising above the lid. Back in ancient Egypt, the kohl already reigned supreme, captivating men and women. Chic, rock, retro, timeless… it has always managed to avoid trends to better impose itself on our desires.

But now the alpha generation (people born between 2010 and 2014) are pointing the finger at him and voicing their displeasure. Has the praise of laziness captivated the little ones to the point of distracting us from the daily exercise of perfect arrangement? In any case, this is the argument put forward by influencers who try to understand this prohibition of the makeup classic. And that ties in with teenagers giving up on Instagram because they may not be able to get enough likes or speak English for fear of failure. Of course, its application always requires dexterity, with which nature has not endowed all of us. But at the age of 12-14, on their favorite channel of expression, understand TikTok, this new generation finds it especially out of fashion (this is a characteristic detail of the boomers), even outdated and even… embarrassing. A most surprising qualification, we would agree. The fact that we forgot to buy a metro ticket book when we were told for 6 months that it would go up to 4 euros during the Olympics is embarrassing. That our train was canceled due to vandalism 24 hours before a long-awaited vacation (and even a little more), but that we condemn eyeliner when we defend it more than ever for freedom of expression in matters of beauty. questions.

So a simple desire to stand out, rejection of make-up after a big wave of naturalness. There can be many explanations. But at a time when taboos, rules and instructions are being thrown down, why introduce others? We saluted the audacity of Millennials who dared. dared to bare their acne, dared to adorn their stretch marks with glitter, dared to expose their scars, dared to take responsibility for their bulges… The wind of freshness and liberation blew over people. the bodies and faces of women and teenage girls. So why fuss over the details? And most importantly, isn’t there a more interesting, more troubling debate in these troubled times? Especially since condemning broads is a bit like denying a makeup monument. And as evidenced by the number of TikTok videos in response to this insult, fervent defenders of the line are numerous and ready to take up arms, or rather real ones, to protect the ship. Especially since appearing everywhere on the catwalks of fashion shows season after season, it is one of the rare pieces of beauty in the first place to make a connection between eras and icons, from Cleopatra to the singer Angel today. So after all, turning a blind eye to his power and aura, wouldn’t that be the most embarrassing thing?