You may have noticed people out and about with little stickers on their faces. Perhaps you’ve seen moons, stars, clouds or even smiley faces adorning people’s cheeks and chins. Maybe you wear them yourself. While some people do wear them as accessories, these colourful stickers are medicated “pimple patches”, designed to treat spots or acne.
Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches, painter unknown (circa 1650). Compton Verney Art Gallery/Canva
Some of the patches simply contain a gel formula, which keeps the emerging blemish moist to aid healing. Some wearers opt for near-transparent film patches to get the benefit in a more inconspicuous way.
Far from a new fad, beauty patches have a long history. The trend first took off in 17th-century Europe, with patches made from paper, silk or velvet, or even fine leather, cut into lozenge shapes, stars or crescent moons.
They could be made in many colours, but black was generally preferred as it made a stark contrast to the idealised pale face of western upper-class men and women, who saw this complexion as a status symbol, showing they did not go outdoors to work. The play Blurt, Master-Constable from 1602 explains another appeal of the patches – when well applied, they could “draw men’s eyes to shoot glances at you”.
Mentions of patches occur regularly in print from the late 16th and early 17th century. Just like today, beauty patches had a dual function. In his 1601 play Jack Drum’s Entertainment, John Marston explains that: “Black patches are worn, some for pride, some to stay the rheum, and some to hide the scab.”
So, some were worn by people wanting to make themselves seem more attractive, and some – sometimes medicated – were used to dry up sores. Some patches were used to conceal blemishes like the scars left by diseases such as smallpox or even syphilis.
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For the full article by Dr Sara Read visit the Conversation.
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Notes for editors
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