CONTRIBUTORS WRITER
ADRIENNE JORDAN @MsJasson
The New Yorker wrote “Painted Faces” (p. 58, beauty flip) for the Global Beauty Issue. “The best part was learning about the culture of Myanmar and how appreciative many locals were of Aung San Suu Kyi, and the democratic changes that are imminent,” she says, adding, “Beauty has no cultural barriers.” FAVORITE ART PIECE: Judith Slaying Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi. FAVORITE GADGET: Microsoft Surface Pro. FASHION EDITOR
WRITERS
ISABEL DUPRÉ
SUEZ TAYLOR AND JASON MOTLAGH
@isabeldupre
“Behati is amazing,” says NYC-based Dupré, who styled Behati Prinsloo for “Endless Summer” (p. 138). “I picked hippie-chic looks that feel like being on holiday, with a sense of freedom and happiness.” STYLE ICONS: The cool girls of the ’60s, from Françoise Hardy to Anita Pallenberg. SECRETLY OBSESSED WITH: TV shows like Blindspot and Girls.
@susiesoulside and @JasonMotlagh
The most challenging aspect of writing “The Abortion Outlaws” (p. 166) for the California– based couple was “finding people willing to share about their underground work on behalf of women” in El Salvador, where no reproductive rights exist. READING: My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem (Taylor). MOSTWORN ITEM: G-Star Raw black jeans (Motlagh).
PHOTOGRAPHER
HENRIK PURIENNE The L.A.-based photographer shot “Here Comes the Sun” (p. 63). “I wanted to evoke sculptures frozen in time and space,” says Purienne, who is working on a book about the Khoisan people of the Kalahari in South Africa. MOST FREQUENTLY PLAYED SONG: “Sounds of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkel. FAVORITE ACTOR: Daniel Day-Lewis.
WRITER
PHILIP GAY
BROOKE HAUSER
Gay, who splits his time between Paris and NYC, photographed model Behati Prinsloo for “Endless Summer” (p. 138). “I was aiming for an ’80s, French feel that would capture Behati’s energy: sexy, intimate, and fun,” he says. FAVORITE ACCESSORY: A hat. FAVORITE ART PIECE: Gordale Scar by James Ward.
“Kylie Jenner gave me a Snapchat tutorial over lunch, and I feel much cooler now!” says the cover story writer (“Wonder Women,” p. 144), who lives in Massachusetts and whose Helen Gurley Brown biography, Enter Helen (HarperCollins), just came out. FAVORITE ACTRESS: Bel Powley. FAVORITE VACATION DESTINATION: The Lake District in England.
@philipgay
36 M A R IE C L AIR E .C OM May 2016
@brookehauser
COURTESY OF THE SUBJECTS
PHOTOGRAPHER
Global MYANMAR
SUN SHIELD Most Intha women in Myanmar put on thanaka every morning.
THE RITUAL
PAINTED FACES At a market near Inle Lake
The women of Myanmar have been doing the SPF thing for hundreds of years By A D R I E N N E J O R DA N
Leaf designs painted with thanaka
DAILY GRIND The paste is made with pulverized wood and water.
Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda on Inle Lake
58
ith decades of military rule and conflict between its ethnic groups, Myanmar was all but closed to travelers until 2011. Today, it’s poised for big changes as the leader of the pro-democracy movement, Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, guides the country toward a new era. But while the people of Myanmar look to the future, at least one 2,000year-old beauty ritual is still going strong, as I discovered on a recent trip. My destination was Inle Lake, a luminous body of water in the central Shan highland, a mountainous region that stretches south to Thailand. It’s dotted with clusters of rainbow-colored floating homes that belong to Intha families. Fishermen from this Tibeto-Burman ethnic group are known for deftly steering their boats while standing up with one leg wrapped around a single oar. The women, however, are famous for their thanaka, a cream-colored powder that covers their faces, often in dazzling designs.
I’d seen thanaka on women (and a few men) all over Myanmar, but it’s a 36-year-old Intha woman named Su Su Htwe who agrees to share its secrets. Inside her teak-and-bamboo house, which sits on stilts above a narrow canal, she explains that the powder is typically ground from the wood and bark of the thanaka tree. She’s invited over a few women to demonstrate the strenuous process. Most of them wear the powder as a circular patch on the cheeks and nose. A shy girl appears from behind a mother, and her powder is beautifully patterned on her cheeks in the shape of leaves. The women take freshly cut pieces of the barkcovered wood, soften them with water, and grind them against stone slabs. They continue adding water and grinding down the wood until they end up with a cream that will dry to a fine white powder after they apply it to their faces. Htwe invites me to spread some on my skin using circular motions on my cheeks and nose. It has an astringent and cooling effect, and a sandalwood-esque scent reaches my nose. Like most women in Myanmar, Htwe applies the powder every morning to protect against sunburn and dehydration. Later, I learn it’s rich in vitamin E, which makes it a natural antioxidant that shields the skin against free radicals formed by harmful UV rays and other environmental pollutants. “A girl should be at least 10 years old before she starts wearing the powder,” Htwe explains. “The older, the better.” Why? Well, as with many centuries-old traditions, she doesn’t really know—that’s just how it’s done. With thanaka on our faces, Htwe and I visit the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda, a holy site where Buddhists from all over the country come to worship. We join other women with powder-rubbed faces and leave rice and incense sticks at the shrine. After we return from the offering, I wash off the powder with lukewarm water and my face feels as soft as if I had just experienced the finest exfoliation. Burmese women may use thanaka to preserve their beautiful complexions, but in a country with such a turbulent history, the unifying ritual that crosses ethnic, religious, and class boundaries is so much more.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: MATTEO COLOMBO/GETTY IMAGES, GAVIN QUIRKE/GETTY IMAGES, CHRISTIAN KOBER/GETTY IMAGES, SANTIAGO URQUIJO/GETTY IMAGES, MARKA/UIG/GETTY IMAGES, VOISHMEL/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
A woman wearing thanaka to protect her skin