Editor’s Note: This article originally ran on September 1, 2020
Museum visits have felt like a thing of the past ever since COVID-19 made busy public places seem like our worst nightmare. As essential businesses have slowly started to adapt to the craziness we call 2020, so have the other places we know and love that have been closed for much longer than we anticipated. But, among all of this reopening are a few new players to the post-quarantine game, and we can’t wait to pay them a visit.
The Makeup Museum, which explores the history of beauty through events and interactive exhibits, is opening today in the Meatpacking District of New York City and we couldn’t be more excited to mask up and take a visit, especially because its opening was scheduled for May 1. The Museum will be open to all New York City residents with COVID-19 protocols in place for optimal safety.
This beauty lover’s dream is the “world’s leading institution exploring the history of beauty and its ongoing impact on society,” notes a release, and they’re opening with a bang. The museum’s debut exhibition is a completely reimagined experience called “Pink Jungle: 1950s Makeup in America,” which explores the beauty “entrepreneurs, icons and artifacts of the decade,” including Erno Laszlo’s collection of facial products used by Marilyn Monroe—including a list of five foods the dermatologist told her not to eat—and Greta Garbo.
According to the release, “The Makeup Museum is a critical institution for the cultural landscape in New York because makeup has a 10,000 year history. There is so much that the Makeup Museum wants and has to explore,” says Doreen Bloch, executive director and cofounder of the Makeup Museum.
It also brings together the makeup icons of our time like Rachel Goodwin, celebrity makeup artist for our favorite A-listers like Jessica Alba and Priyanka Chopra; Gabriela Hernandez, CEO of Besame Cosmetics; and Annie Ludsen, a museum specialist in order to “encourage the makeup community to come together in a big, meaningful way with both physical and digital touchpoints,” says Caitlin Collins, cofounder of the Museum.
Whether you’re itching to get out of the house now or you want to make a reservation for the future, this shoppable, interactive museum deserves a spot in your must-visit list.
