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1A

A Brief History Of Eyeliner

1A

NPR

News

4.34.5K Ratings

🗓️ 17 November 2023

⏱️ 31 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

William Shakespeare once said that the eyes are the window to the soul. We make eye contact with others to show that we're listening, to connect, or simply as a way of saying, "I see you."

Cultures around the world have understood the power of eyes for centuries. If you travel to India, Chad, Japan, Iran, or just around the corner from your house, you'll probably see the same thing around the eyes of the people who live there: eyeliner.

In her new book, "Eyeliner: A Cultural History," Lebanese-British journalist Zahra Hankir explores beauty, power, identity, and resistance through the lens of the iconic cosmetic.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Support for NPR and the following message come from Heather Sturthega and Paul G. Haga supporting

0:06.2

African Wildlife Foundation, working to ensure wildlife and wild lands thrive in modern Africa.

0:11.9

Learn more at AWF.org.

0:15.0

You've probably heard the William Shakespeare quote that the eyes are windows to the soul.

0:27.0

Whether you believe in a soul or not, there's some truth to this.

0:31.0

We make eye contact with others to show we're listening, to connect or simply as a way of saying, I see you.

0:38.0

During the pandemic, our eyes were often the only features strangers could see above our

0:41.9

face masks.

0:43.8

Cultures around the world have understood the power of eyes for centuries.

0:48.0

If you travel to India, Chad, Japan, Iran, or just around the corner from your house, you'll probably see the same thing around the eyes of the people who live there.

0:56.0

Eyeliner.

0:57.0

I've worn it probably since I was 15.

1:00.0

In ninth grade I saw a friend of mine where Eyeliner and I thought it made her eyes look so beautiful.

1:06.0

And so ever since then I have one eyeliner.

1:09.0

The older I've gotten, the less I wear makeup, but whenever I do, I put on eyeliner. I'm a recovering gosh and I've been with my now wife Maya for

1:18.8

gosh about 25 plus years and back in London where we used to live she would help me with my eyeliner.

1:25.2

So I think an earlier sign that we might be a good fit for one another was when she would have me look at the ceiling and

1:34.4

quote pretend that Robert Smith from the cure is on the ceiling so that she could

1:39.2

do my eyeliner effectively. First time I bought eyeliner, I think I was probably 12, and it was some generic dollar stick

1:50.1

eyeliner, and I was big into heavy metal back then and I loved it. I love how

1:56.5

eyeliner makes my eyes pop. Thank you for all those messages and her her new book, Eyeliner, a cultural history,

2:05.0

Lebanese British journalist Zara Henker

...

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