Star, Patch, Mouche - Why we love sticking shit on our faces.

Pimple patches - specifically decorative ones like Starface have been big for a few years now. They protect and treat spots, they also hide spots, and actually (when the branding and marketing has been clever enough) they can become accessories in and of themselves.

But pimple patches aren’t new, and seeing celebrities with little stars dotted across their faces isn’t new either, so let’s get into the history of the Mouche.

16th Century Pimple Patches

This was not a great era for skincare.

Smallpox was extremely common, and left many people with scarring on their faces that they could cover with these spots. Also in terms of how ailments were actually treated - mercury (yep, the deadly poisonous element) was a common treatment to venereal diseases and could cause facial disfigurement, which was also artfully concealed with a mouche. Because of this use as a literal concealer they were very popular amongst lower classes - specifically sex workers, and actually looking back at a decorative patch as concealment they can be traced far back into the ancient period, with soldiers using them to disguise scars from battles, for example.

Initially taking the form of little black shapes cut from a fabric, like velvet or silk, these artificial beauty spots became hugely popular and trendy across elite social circles in Europe in the 16th and 17th century, specifically originating in France (because it was THE leading fashion originator of the continent during this time). They were called Mouches or ‘flies’ because their little, dark, shapes, hovering over the fashionable pale skin of the era, looked reminiscent of a big fly at rest - glam right? As their usage shifted from a concealment relating to the lower classes, to an embellishment worn by the upper, they raised a fair amount of critique.

Those who wore them thought they emphasises their pale skin, and could draw attention to their favorite facial features.

You’re probably familiar with the concept of beauty spots as a 1950s beauty trend, with implications of natural beauty that made women apply false marks to their faces. These fabric patches held similar implications, but being cut into shapes like crescent moons, stars and hearts they began to carry more nuanced meaning than just being a symbol of beauty.

The Complete Look

For the ruling class, whom used this patches as more of a beauty tool than a concealment it was all about differentiating themselves from the people ‘below’ them. This was an era where getting a sun-kissed glow was absolutely not desirable. It meant you’d been out toiling in the sun instead of lounging inside - imagine!? The dark patches were emphasised with the powdery white face makeup of the era (think Marie Antoinette), this powder was often literally flour, and the waste of a crucial ingredient as a beauty tool whilst the working classes of France starved was an example of the exploitation and frivolity of the ruling body which directly fed into the French Revolution.

What’s really fascinating is how the patches developed into a secret coded language. Throughout history fashion has been a coded language, sometimes an unregulated way to make assumptions about each other but at many, many times it has been a carefully constructed system of unspoken signals. Think Tudor sumptuary laws, the hanky code or in this case, Moche codes.

A married woman would wear a heart shaped patch on her right cheek, whilst an engaged woman would wear a heart on her left.

A tory would wear a patch on the right, whilst a Whig (their political opponents at the time) would wear it on the left.

A patch beside the eye could indicate passion, whilst a patch on the nose could indicate flirtatiousness.

Much like today’s starface patches out Georgian ancestors carried their spare patches around in cute patch boxes. Seeing as they were applied with a lick of saliva to stick onto their white, powdered, bases they fell off a lot and spares would be reapplied throughout the day.

Building upon the ‘rules’ of beauty, as media loves to do - magazines of the era suggested etiquette around wearing patches, don’t wear more than two, don’t wear them near the mouth - then at the same time; don’t wear too few or your look will be blasé, don’t wear too many or your look will be desperate, painting a picture of a sex worker whose face is heavily-patched to conceal STI symptoms and make her sexual availability known.

There’s something to be said about beauty and fashion trends repeating this cycle - borrowing trends from lower classes, then setting rules around them so that you can look interesting and suggestive but not quite cross over into ‘common’ or ‘promiscuous’. Simultaneously borrowing from and looking down on the styles originators, and these controversial roots are where problems around the trend began to pop up.

The controversy of Beauty

The concept that ‘one small imperfection, makes you even more perfect’ takes us all the wayback to the goddess Venus, who was said to have one beauty spot, which elevated her beauty.

As we’ve touched upon, the trend raised some eyebrows, due to its links with ‘undesirable’ lower classes. But that didn’t slow the trend down, at all.

Controversy also arose within France around the frivolity of this practice, and the concept of beautifying oneself at all. This was Marie Antoinette’s era, when men and women alike wore heavy makeup, heavy sculpted hair, and giant gowns and the expensive, self-involved spending of the elite within France, especially it when it came to fashion and beauty trends was a big spark in the fires that led up to the French Revolution.

Across Europe the beauty spots were copied from the French trend setters, but they weren’t all popular, devout religious followers found them to be dishonest concealments, or even corrupting ones - supposedly British leader Oliver Cromwell even banned them for this reason.

The trend cycle turns

Despite the backlash, the trend persevered, and continues to pop up in cycles as fashion and tastes move. All it takes is one famous icon to make use of beauty marks and the trend is back, see Clara Bow a 1920s silent film star, Marylin Monroe emphasising her beauty spot, or Cindy Crawfords iconic mole.

Today we have pimple patches concealing, and treating, our blemishes, whilst also making a statement and drawing attention to our selves and our faces - we even see them used as accessories in editorials (see SZA’s for Interview mag). Yes there’s the argument that they are a good way to protect a pimple, but Starface actually aren’t the best on the market for treating spots, they just look the coolest, and with huge amounts of creator gifting and partnerships they’ve become todays mouche.

Much the same as we like a piercing, tattoo, eyebrow slit, or bold lip - what we put on our faces as adornment is an important visual language. We can, and do, use things as simple as patches to express our age, our interests, our connections to internet culture, our queerness, our style - and we probably always will.