Actress Kani Kusruti Wore A Siren Red Lip For The Kerala State Film Award And Made A Statement About Our Dusky Skin Bias While At It
Although all glamourous events offer plenty room for the celebrities to display their finest looks, an award function remains the prominent affair to put their best fashion foot forward. Take a look at any film awards and you’d find the stars sashaying down the red carpets in sultry dresses, chic pantsuits and exuberant sarees. While at one spot they happen to be spilling the beans about who they are wearing, at another they are getting papped for their looks which would ultimately flood our social media feeds. That’s the basically the norm of entertainment industry. However, some celebs are either unconcerned or above that superficiality and rather use the platform to make a statement when they can, just like south film actress Kani Kusruti did. Instead of arriving in style in a designer gown and exquisite piece of jewellery, she chose a humble cotton kurta and a silver choker necklace. However, her striking red lip that elevated the look had a hidden message behind it.
The red lip obviously looked gorgeous on the dusky beauty but you might have missed on the subtle message she wanted to give with that one innocent beauty choice. She posted some pictures from the award functions and wrote in the caption, “Proudly wearing Rihanna s universal red lipstick from fentybeauty for the State award function.” She further went on to explain what the word universal meant for the lipstick. “For people who are genuinely interested in reading what this universal red lip stick stands for, here is an extract from a link ‘Historically, darker-skinned black women have been derided for wearing red lipstick. As recently as 2013, the rapper A$AP Rocky, while on tour with Rihanna, was criticized for telling the lifestyle site the Coveteur that “You have to be fair skinned to get away with” wearing red lipstick. The message often is that black women’s lips — a body part that is simultaneously ridiculed and sexualized — are meant to be downplayed, not highlighted with red,’” she wrote. It was Kusruti’s way of rebelling against the ridiculous notion that restricts dark skinned women from wearing bold lip colours, especially red.
Also Read: Tamannaah Bhatia’s Take On Beauty Standards In South Indian Cinema And Bollywood Has Got Us Thinking!
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For the longest time, a red lipstick has been considered sensual and lively which draws attention to the sexiest part of a woman’s face—lips. While that is not entirely false, telling a woman she shouldn’t wear the colour because she is dusky or because it is meant for younger women is totally wrong. Often, older women are also judged and even slut-shamed for wearing red which is just sad. Rihanna came up with a universal colour, Stunna Lip Paint in ‘Uncensored’ that is a bold red intended to suit all skin tones and is meant for every woman. The lipstick breaks the beauty stereotype surrounding the colour and encourages women of all colours, race and skin tone to wear the bright red, unapologetically.
Not only Kusruti made a convincing case for women wearing red lip colour regardless of their skin tone or age, but rather anything they want to wear without caring what the society expects us to. By attending the ever-so-glamourous event in a simple attire, she made a strong statement that you can wear anything you feel like, even if it’s an award function and you are a celebrity, if that’s what you want. She has mastered the art of being unapologetically herself and this made us admire her even more. And, yes she bagged the award for the best actress too.
