Bozo Chic: Clowncore Makeup

"Clown make-up has often been a way to deconstruct conventional beauty standards and convey transgression through aesthetics", says Nicki Harrington for Dazed. It seems like, with the current Uranus-Pluto and Jupiter-Uranus transits, everyone is wearing clown makeup. At least, some of our favorite artists are.

The Uranus-Pluto archetype is often associated with revolution, rebellion, freedom and autonomy, all of which clowns have long been associated with. Similarly, the Jupiter-Uranus archetype brings with it a sense of optimism, creativity, buoyancy, freedom and rebellion. Jupiter-Uranus is often seen as an archetype representative of "the happy trickster", very similar to that of the clown.

For the last few years, clown makeup has slowly but surely began to infiltrate the worlds of fashion, beauty and music. Take Julia Fox, who, in April of 2023, attended several events in Washington D.C., including an appearance at the White House Correspondents Dinner, in a series of bozo chic looks, straight out of La Strada. "She's in her politician era!" Fox wrote jokingly in an instagram caption for one of her looks, alluding to the current state of politics and the farcical circus that is the Capitol.

Chappell Roan, who has been exponentially growing in popularity since her Coachella debut this last April, rocks clowncore makeup looks so often that they have even become a staple within her artistry. Roan's makeup "brings together elements of drag, burlesque, club kid make-up and a classic clown aesthetic," says Harrington. As an example, you can check the up-and-coming singer out at her tiny desk performance, where she appeared in her signature matte white-painted face, colorful eyeshadow, exaggerated blush and bold lipstick.

Apart from Fox and Roan, other examples of people embracing the bozo chic aesthetic are fashion designer Charles Jeffrey, who incorporates clown aesthetics both into his personal looks, as well as into those he designs, make-up artists Bo Quinn and Alice Dodds, who are both inspired by the circus, and singer Georgia Ellery from Jockstrap, who appears in the music video for the band's single Concrete Over Water in a head-to-toe clown-inspired look.

Since their very beginning, Clowns have been a symbol of rebellion. As Harrington says, "clowns have long challenged mainstream norms and the status quo." For traditional clowns, painting their faces white and their cheeks red symbolized that, although they were regular people otherwise, they could fearlessly expose truths in a tongue-in-cheek manner. The fact that we are seeing the rise of this aesthetic while we are globally experiencing Uranus-Pluto and Jupiter-Uranus transits is no coincidence.

When Uranus, the principle of rebellion, freedom, eccentricity, creative-rebel-trickster energy, among other things, forms an aspect to Pluto, the archetype associated with depth, intensity, transformation, the taboo, the reality that lurks beneath the surface of societal conventions, and so on, it is common to encounter happenings such as intensified urges (Pluto) for rebellion (Uranus) and/or mass movements (Pluto) toward freedom, autonomy, or revolution (Uranus).

Interestingly, the first recorded clown with a white base, Joseph Grimaldi, the "original English clown," rose to prominence during the Uranus-Pluto opposition of 1787-1798 (considering a 15º orb), which also coincides with the French Revolution, which itself fits the themes of Uranus-Pluto excellently.

Along the same lines, when Jupiter, the archetype responsible for the capacity or inclination for optimism, enthusiasm, exuberance, joy, joviality, aggrandizement and extravagance, meets with Uranus in an aspect, as mentioned, we often find "happy trickster" figures, reminiscent (if not clown themselves) of clowns.

In 2024, as the clowncore aesthetic infiltrates culture, we can see this trend as a collective act of rebellion against our society's unrealistic beauty standards. A joyful one, since Jupiter is involved in it as well.