In Ukraine, women carefully apply makeup before taking refuge in the corridors of the metro. One of them admits to journalist Maureen Mercier her despair at having to flee kyiv, but puts the cruelty of this situation into perspective: “At least, during the journey, I will be able to treat myself to some nail care.”
We too often reduce coquetry to vain levity, a politeness of the superfluous or a narcissistic artifice. However, observed in the margins of existence – where the world collapses, isolates itself or dies out – it reveals a completely different nature. Lost in the heart of the oceans, Alain Gerbault — a pioneer of solo navigation in the 1920s — demanded impeccable clothing and hygiene from himself: “Above all, not to succumb to the carelessness possibly justified by isolation. I shave every morning. Only iron discipline can lead to victory,” he argued.
In an institution or in a nursing home, illness or old age gradually reduces the body to its biological or functional dimension. A trip to the hairdresser or beautician gives back a name, a style and preferences where we too often only see medical needs.
In funeral arrangements, defining the choice of one’s finest attire to end up in the crematorium may seem trivial. We can see this as a final snub to Camarde.
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