Pamela Anderson Stuns With or Without Makeup at the Met Gala

By Valerie Monroe, a Cut contributor.  She is author of the “How Not to F*ck Up Your Face” column. Previously, she created a monthly “Ask Val” column at O, The Oprah Magazine, where she was the beauty director for nearly 16 years.

She said she thought it would make her mother happy. When Pamela Anderson showed up at the Met Gala last night wearing a gown by Oscar de la Renta, hair styled by Orlando Pita, jewels by Pandora (she’s an ambassador for the brand), and, maybe most notably, a full face of maquillage by the revered makeup artist Pat McGrath, she was coming out in more ways than one. Granted, the makeup, especially for McGrath, was toned down and natural-looking, unlike the smokey-eyed sexy face Anderson wore before she made headlines by going makeupless at the Paris shows last year.

Did Anderson say then that she would never wear makeup again? Did she promise to eschew blush and eyeliner for the rest of her life? If she did, I didn’t hear it. That’s why Pamela Anderson wearing makeup at the Met Gala is no big deal. I made a point of saying that her makeup-free face in Paris was a bit of a public-relations stunt. But enhancing her look last night with help from McGrath makes complete sense: Guests at the gala are encouraged to arrive as characters in full costume, some of them, I guess you could call it, conservative, some outrageous. Honoring the Costume Institute with … well, costumes, of course, right?

Anderson has said she prepares herself for public appearances without a stylist, and I believe her. She seems to be making choices about how she presents herself and which kind of costume is appropriate for which kind of character she’s playing at the moment. Makeup-free farm girl in a flowing nap dress? High-fashion acolyte in her late friend Vivienne Westwood’s ensemble? Newly accepted socialite in Oscar and lab-grown diamonds? (“I always knew this person was inside me … this lady,” she said about being invited to the gala for the first time.)

The choices she makes are less consequential than the fact that she has freed herself to make them.

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