Sicardi seeks to broaden conversation about global beauty, interconnectedness

In their book The House of Beauty: Lessons from the Image Industry, Arabelle Sicardi examines the ethics of mica and palm oil extraction by presenting the reader with a choose-your-own disaster scenario. “I didn’t want it to be straight reporting,” they said, and sought a more “playful” approach hoping to encourage readers to engage with sometimes challenging material. Sicardi discussed their book as part of the Clayman Institute’s Feminism in Theory and Practice series, hosted by Writer in Residence Moira Donegan.

Describing the book as different from anything else on the market, Donegan praised its investigative reporting but observed: “It goes so far beyond that investigative work and really takes on this much more ambitious purview to look at the moral role of beauty and its role in our consumption, our conformity, its role in extraction, and its role in resistance.” Sicardi acknowledged their goal to upset expectations about a well-reported book, and further, what constitutes a conversation about beauty.

While they regularly engage with peers about beauty in the context of politics, the global economy, and current events – “really interdisciplinary conversations about beauty and politics on a day-to-day basis” – Sicardi found a gap in formal conversations that weave together such larger subjects. “I really just wanted to create a book that represented the needs of the moment I was living in,” they said.

Sicardi’s reporting on extraction focused on two materials commonly found in many products: palm oil and mica. A shiny, shimmery mineral, mica is a mined product found in not only the beauty industry but a wide range of consumer products as well. Many investigations have pointed to illegal or unethical practices in its production, including child labor. Similarly, palm oil plantations have grown to enormous enterprises, intertwined with regional governments and politics in harmful ways. With the “choose your own disaster” approach, the author begins by addressing the reader in second person, involving “you” with these troubling realities and demonstrating our interconnectedness. 

“I wanted to immediately implicate the reader into this global conversation,” Sicardi said. While many discussions of beauty focus on the endpoint of consumer experience, and centering the customer, they ask: “What if it was about all of us together at the same time?” With a nonlinear approach, they hoped to use a little chaos and an appeal to reader’s humanity to broaden the conversation.

Sicardi also delves into the impact of the U.S. military on global beauty, particularly from the wars in Asia, where government contracts and policies influenced creation of both the Vietnamese nail salon industry and the Korean wig industry. “I’m interested in how war makes beauty happen,” they said, noting the long history of Asian hair being used as a commodity, even while Asian people endured persecution.  

Sicardi has gone to unusual lengths to better understand and embrace their area of interest. They are currently attending cosmetology school, going to classes and getting to know fellow students, many of whom are artists apart from their beauty work. Of course the work of these individuals within the beauty industry is artistic as well, and Sicardi has founded the Museum of Nails Foundation to honor​ beauty workers, their creations, and their innovations. An upcoming exhibit from the museum in the New York public transit system offers a timeline of nail art history along with a focus on the artistic creations and their creators. 

A Taiwanese American writer exploring beauty, care, and crisis, Sicardi has written for Allure, Teen Vogue, and The Cut; run the scent collective Perfumed Pages; and founded the Museum of Nails Foundation.