Rouge Allure Velvet Extreme #1

Tapestry, 2025

The title of this work is borrowed from Chanel’s language of luxury cosmetics — a world where beauty, desire, and seduction are carefully cultivated and celebrated.

But what hides behind beauty?

A touch of bright lipstick seems such a small, innocent detail. A simple gesture of self-adornment, a finishing touch to one’s appearance. Yet even this seemingly insignificant element can become an instrument of influence — a way to attract attention, assert presence, impose one’s will, or gain power over another person.

I am fascinated and disturbed by the subtle ways in which aggression can disguise itself as beauty.

The intensity of red lips is rarely questioned. We call it confidence, femininity, sensuality, or elegance. We admire the boldness of the colour without necessarily considering what that boldness might communicate.

What if the desire to be attractive is sometimes inseparable from the desire to dominate?

What if beauty becomes a socially acceptable way of applying pressure, shaping another person’s response, or getting what we want?

My concern is not lipstick itself, nor the people who choose to wear it. It is the hidden aggression that can inhabit the language of appearance — the quiet manipulation, the assertion of superiority, the desire to influence or control, all concealed beneath an aesthetically pleasing surface.

What troubles me most is how deeply these mechanisms have become embedded in our culture. We have learned to recognise their beauty while overlooking their potential violence.

In this tapestry, the lips become more than a decorative feature. Their aggressive colour and exaggerated presence expose the tension between attraction and intimidation, seduction and control.

The work expresses my discomfort, even revulsion, towards the normalisation of dominance when it is disguised as something beautiful.

A small detail of appearance can carry an unexpectedly powerful message.

And perhaps the most disturbing thing is how easily we mistake that message for beauty.