Starting today, about 175,000 people will descend on Somerset for the Glastonbury music festival. One of them is Cyndi Lauper, who will take the stage on Sunday night to promote her latest album, Detour, a compilation of covers so original you’d think they belonged to her own oeuvre. Lauper, who is certainly no stranger to large crowds, is playing the British festival for the first time and needs one thing to prepare: Wellies. (She’s on the hunt for them when she calls from Manchester.)
Aside from navigating the festival ground’s mud, Lauper says, “the good news is it’s always chilly,” meaning she can wear her signature thrift-store-new-wave layers and whatever kind of Technicolor makeup she dreams up backstage without worrying about overheating. And a free-spirited appearance is crucial to Lauper’s artistic integrity—after all, this is the woman whose debut solo album was called She’s So Unusual, a title that quickly usurped its original moniker, She’s So Wonderful (unusual being a superior quality in Lauper’s book).
At 63, the “She Bop” singer isn’t planning on toning it down any time soon. Swinging through the ’80s with a cadre of chromatic looks she recalls as “performance art,” she paved the way for the larger-than-life Nicki Minajs and Lady Gagas of the world, and credits the latter for “[making] me remember who I was. I didn’t have to worry about sitting next to her and being called a freak.” Here, after more than 30 years in the spotlight, Lauper shares the rules that have ensured that, when it comes to beauty, she’s always having fun.
Surprise yourself.
Lauper’s latest reinvention is perhaps her most unexpected: She’s been embodying a look she resisted in her youth. “I like pink right now,” she says. "I never liked pink. It was shoved down [girls’] throats.” These days, she says, “pink is just pink, it can be used for different genders,” making her feel more free than ever to dip into the color from head to toe.
Age is a state of mind.
“When you’ve lost your spirit, that’s not good,” Lauper says. “A woman who is older doesn’t have to look like a grandmamma. She can look elegant and not conservative.” The secret to pulling off a bold bolt of color, she says is simply scaling back. “You can do any style of makeup if you’re older, you just need to do it light. Too much makeup will make you look older.”
Get to know your face, and your history.
Experimenting with looks from checkerboard eyeshadow to angular sweeps of blush comes down to understanding your bone structure. “Look and see the shape of your face. In the ’80s I used to go to the bookstore. [In] The Image Makers, I found a lot of makeup that matched the shape of my face.” Looking through photographers’ books gave her a wealth of inspiration to draw from and update for her own spin. A Clockwork Orange eyelashes became her own take on a smoky eye, while ’30s-style makeup was given a modern hyperchromatic kick. “See what you look like, and see what matches your face,” she says. “Then, one night, practice.”
Don’t look too perfect.
Any look can gain rock ’n’ roll authenticity with a little unraveling. “First you do the traditional thing, then you deconstruct it,” says Lauper. When all else fails, adding a hat is always “glamorous, darling.”
Consider a strategically colorful hair statement.
“Color and lack of color are statements,” she says. But when it comes to her hair, whether she goes pink, blue, lavender, or yellow, “I think soft colors are always more flattering,” she says. Sometimes she stains it herself with the help of hairstylist Jutta Weiss and a jar of Manic Panic. “I’m friends with them,” Lauper notes, “and they’ve made a product with conditioner, so I don’t have to add it anymore.”