Overview

Arabelle Sicardi brings a singular voice—poetic, candid, incisive—to the complexities of the beauty industry. Weaving sharp analysis and vivid storytelling, Sicardi explores how beauty myths are crafted, sold and weaponised, from corporate boardrooms to local salons. Delving into such issues as the exploitation of refugee labour in nail salons, the use of fragrance in fascist propaganda and the hidden connections between power and profit, Sicardi challenges readers to confront the industry’s costs—both personal and societal—and reconsider beauty as more than a product of consumption. Instead, they invite a vision of beauty rooted in connection and self-care, one that transcends industry-driven ideals. The House of Beauty is both an exposé and a cultural reckoning, offering insight into beauty’s true impact and the untold stories behind its illusions.

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9780393531626

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Reviews

A panoramic must-read to understand one of the most powerful (but too often dismissed) social forces of our times.--Elise Hu, author of Flawless and cohost of Forever35 I have always respected how Arabelle Sicardi has forensically uncovered Beauty's checkered past and present without ever once eschewing compassion and devotion for the community and connection formed through Beauty. There is no better voice I trust to take us through the worst of its history so that we can envision a brighter future.--Sable Yong, author of Die Hot with a Vengeance Incisive and sweeping, analytical yet deeply personal. Arabelle Sicardi asks us to see beauty not only as systemic, imperial violence, profane on an environmental and human scale, but also as an insurrection, a defiant act of personal care and healing. A glorious treatise on everybody's problematic fave.--Mary H.K. Choi, New York Times best-selling author of Yolk The House of Beauty attends to the multiple dimensions of the beauty industry, including its labors, injuries, hopes, and promises. This dazzling study is wrought through Arabelle Sicardi's conviction that beauty matters deeply, because it is a balm, because it is a war, because it is a factory, because it is a glimpse of another way of being with one another.--Mimi Thi Nguyen, author of The Promise of Beauty The House of Beauty is an example of Arabelle Sicardi's profound ability to understand the many different ways we are interconnected and thus culpable for how we consume, participate in, and self-care in alignment with beauty standards in the capitalist confines of the Global North.--Fariha Róisín, author of Who Is Wellness For? I will read anything the brilliant, unfailingly perceptive, and multitudes-containing Arabelle Sicardi puts into the world. Now their first book is finally here, and hallelujah! The House of Beauty is scintillating, a trove of wisdom and insight.--R. O. Kwon, author of Exhibit

Author Information

Arabelle Sicardi is a Taiwanese American writer exploring beauty, care, and crisis. They’ve written for Allure, Teen Vogue, and the Cut; run the scent collective Perfumed Pages; and founded the Museum of Nails Foundation. They split their time between Los Angeles, California, and New York City.

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