Senorita Dido and Laura Palmer's Vintage Makeup Styles

The makeup Senorita Dido and Laura Palmer wear suggests another time. Laura's appearance at the end of Fire Walk With Me evokes Old Hollywood, while Senorita Dido instantly makes one think of silent-era film. It seems more than a coincidence that The Fireman/Giant and Senorita Dido inhabit an area connected to an ornate theater whose interior is furnished with 1920s/1930s embellishments.

Senorita Dido listens.

The song Senorita Dido listens to on her gramophone is a Dean Hurley and David Lynch collaboration titled Slow 30's Room. It acts as a connotation in a dream-like representation of the time. Dean Hurley stated that the music was originally used in the David Lynch art exhibit The Air is on Fire, where Lynch specifically asked for '30s music to accompany a 3D rendering of a 1930s room from one of his paintings. Hurley said the rendering reminded him of the room at the Fireman's house. You can hear the interview here. Thanks to Brelva for bringing this to our attention. 

Classic film is part of Lynch's repertoire. Sunset Boulevard, one of Lynch's favorite films, is centered around a former silent film star. Countless varied films influenced events in Twin Peaks, though those in the film noir genre, such as Otto Preminger's Laura and Hitchcock's Vertigo, seem to take precedence. The first two seasons of Twin Peaks feel as though they are set in a time other than our own, due not only to visual cues such as the wardrobe and props, but often in the manner in which characters speak and conduct themselves. The main writing staff seemed well versed in classic films.

The movie screen seen in the Fireman's house and its graphic of the earth reminds one of newsreel footage from the past.

This post is not rooted in research of any great depth. I have not studied theories concerning Senorita Dido or reasons for Laura's slightly changed appearance at the end of FWWM. I am also admittedly not well versed in all matters concerning David Lynch or the third season. I'm simply writing what I see, attempting to date Laura and Senorita Dido's style. Early Hollywood aesthetics have long been an interest of mine.

Having the time, I watched a few vintage makeup tutorials on YouTube. One by a channel known as English Heritage is very informative, and interestingly, begins with Johnny Largo's Big Band Beat, the song sampled by Dean Hurley and David Lynch to make 30s Slow Room. You can watch the video below.

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Dido's make-up, seen at its clearest in the images above and below, consists of thin, elongated penciled brows, dark gray eyeshadow, blush, wine red lipstick and a beauty spot.

 
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In the image above we can see that her eyeshadow extends from the corner of her eyes to the bridge of her nose, a technique employed by the theatre to narrow the bridge of the nose and emphasize the eyes. Her eyes appear lined by black eyeliner, and she wears dramatic false eyelashes. The gray eyeshadow is accented by a very faint shimmering pink or white highlight beneath her brows. 

This website displays different false eyelashes available since the 1920s.

Judging by her eyelashes, brows and auburn hair, Senorita Dido's look may be based on Clara Bow, one of the most famous silent film actresses.

Note Clara Bow's hairstyle, her beauty mark, eyeshadow, lashes, and thin overly long penciled brows.

A better image of her penciled brows.

Bow's famous eyelashes. Though Dido's eyelashes are larger and more dramatic than Bow's, perhaps she was an inspiration.

In part 8 of the Behind the Curtain feature on the From A to Z set, Dido's eyeshadow appears darker than in the make-up continuity photos.

Dido's eyeshadow in the feature is reminiscent of kohl eye makeup worn by silent film stars such as Louise Brooks, Theda Bara, and Pola Negri as well as flapper girls.

Louise Brooks
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Pola Negri
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Theda Bara
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A flapper girl.
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Dido's lips appear to be lined. Her eyebrows are drawn in pencil, a popular look during the 1920s and '30s. Bette Davis' once expressed exasperation over being required to shave her brows and dye her hair platinum blonde early in her career.

Anna May Wong
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Bette Davis
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The sequin pattern on Dido's dress is quite reminiscent of a dress worn by Mae West in the early 30s.

Mae West.
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Senorita Dido's hair seems to be styled in 1920s or early '30s waves and curls. She is wearing a type of headband known as a Bandeaus which is often associated with flapper girls, though photographs from the time show that flappers most commonly wore cloche hats, headscarves, and beaded or jeweled headpieces. Dido's look as a whole seems more a modern attempt at a 1930s ensemble than historical accuracy as it is a conglomeration of items from different periods. The cut of Dido's sleeve looks modern. Historically, unless she was an eccentric, a woman in 1945 would not be dressed as Senorita Dido appears.

Carole Lombard wears her hair in a style slightly similar to Dido.
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Hairstyles vaguely similar to Didos. (Above and below)

Examples of the 1920s Bob cut.
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Laura Palmer's eyeshadow at the end of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is not as dark as that worn by Senorita Dido. Laura seems to wear golden eyeshadow with smokey gray highlights. She may have a light brown shadow near her browline. Her eyes are lined in dark liner, possibly black, and accompanied by mascara. Her eyebrows have also been darkened by an eyebrow pencil or powder. She may wear facial powder - an everyday practice of many women in the past.

Laura's look almost seems a modern interpretation of 1940s makeup. A YouTube makeup tutorial shows an example of a historically accurate look vs. a modern take on '40s makeup. Laura's makeup style may be a modern take on the 1930s or 40s.  As you can see in the thumbnail below, modern attempts are more dramatic than those worn in reality.

Laura's lipstick is a deep shade of red. Red lipstick has historically been worn by women as strength, starting with the suffrage movement. In this article by Katy Velvet, "During WWII, red lipstick became a patriotic duty when recruiting women to contribute to the war effort. When women were laboured to provide weapons to troops in munitions factories, they wore red lipstick to boost their sense of morale. In fact, because Adolf Hitler despised red lipstick, American women were encouraged to wear it in propaganda ads."

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Laura's lipstick almost appears coral in this publicity photo.

The eye makeup Laura wears reminds me of a muted version of the style worn the previous decade. Pictured below are examples.

Gloria Swanson
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Clara Bow

Google results for 1940s actresses. Note that women during that time did not line the lower lid, nor did they apply shadow or mascara to the lower lash.

Laura's hair is styled in waves and curls reminiscent of styles made famous in Hollywood during the 1940s. Though her hair is not styled like Laura's, Rita Hayworth comes to mind. In Mulholland Dr., David Lynch had a main character name herself Rita after seeing a Gilda movie poster featuring Ms. Hayworth. Perhaps happenstance. Perhaps not. This link contains interesting connections between Rita Hayworth, other film stars, and Mulholland Dr.

Rita Hayworth
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Various styles from the 1940s.
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Laura at the end of Fire Walk With Me seems to wear similar makeup to the style she wore before she and Donna left her house for Partyland.

Laura before leaving.

Laura wears gold eyeshadow with smokey gray highlights, dark liner, and mascara. Her eyebrows are darkened, and she wears an almost rose shade of lipstick. 

In the Twin Peaks pilot, the eyeshadow worn by Laura - or the girl who looks almost exactly like her - almost appears to be a light beige with smokey gray highlights. She wears deep red lipstick.

Laura in the Twin Peaks pilot blu-ray.

Laura's eyeshadow as seen on the 4k blu-ray.

In the series finale, the girl who appears in the Black Lodge wears light red lipstick - this shade has more blue undertones than the last shade, darkened eyebrows, eyeliner, and mascara. She appears to be wearing beige eyeshadow with dark brown or gray highlights.

Laura's makeup on the blu-ray.

Laura's eyeshadow on the 4K disc. 

 
Laura's hair in the final episode seems inspired by both then-current and vintage styles. Though her hair is entirely different, Laura's bangs almost remind me Bettie Page's hairstyle, though styled in a haphazard or lackadaisical manner. By extension, they remind me of Patricia Arquette's appearance in Lost Highway. The bangs Arquette's characters, Renee and Alice, sport seem influenced by Ms. Page.

Bettie Page.

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Patricia Arquette as Alice Wakefield.

And as Renee Madison. (Image source)

In Twin Peaks: The Return, Laura's Black Lodge eyeshadow seems somewhat like what she wore in the pilot. In the Behind the Curtain feature for part one, Sabrina Sutherland plays a YouTube video of the Black Lodge dream sequence from the pilot for David Lynch and Sheryl Lee, helping them to recreate the kiss between Dale and Laura. If such means were employed to recreate actions from the pilot, perhaps they did the same with Laura's makeup. It's difficult to determine the color of her eyeshadow. It at times appears to have hints of gold, while at others it seems more a shimmery beige.

Laura's makeup in the Behind the Curtain for part one of The Return and in the pilot. The dark eyeshadow at the crease of her lid is extended in the pilot vs. her look in The Return. Her makeup almost seems a combination of the Black Lodge look in the pilot and the season two finale. 

Laura's eyeshadow seems the same color as it is in the behind the scenes footage, though, oddly, her lipstick is darker in the finished episode. Here is is almost a wine red when before it was a coral shade.

In the Behind the Curtain feature for part one, and Richard Beymer's behind the scenes short films included on the From A to Z box set, we can see more of the makeup Sheryl Lee wears as Laura.

 Sheryl looks to be wearing false eyelashes (above). 

The shimmer visible in her eyeshadow.

Laura's hair almost makes one think of a relaxed Bob cut.

I don't know what the connection is, if any, between Senorita Dido's look and Laura Palmer's Black Lodge appearance in Fire Walk With Me. The first thought is the timelessness of the Black Lodge, the possibility that its occupants are without the limits we understand regarding time. When I first watched The Return, I remember being left with the impression that Senorita Dido's connection to Laura is familial, almost as if she is her actual mother, though that is not necessarily a theory I advocate. It almost seems more than coincidence that Laura's style in the Black Lodge complements the time in which the orb bearing her likeness was seemingly sent to earth to combat BOB.  

 

Perhaps it is all a matter of Lynch's fondness for the past.