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You've seen her darting into
the stacks in search of Moody'swearing Chanel knock-offs and
Kenneth Cole shoes. You've glanced at her from the corner of your eye
during conferences wolfing down free scones while decked in what you'd
swear was last year's Mizrahi. Or you've seen her with that Linda
Evangelista-like pout and Oliver Peoples frames as the umpteenth person
has asked her where the bathroom is. And you wonder, "who is that
exquisitely attired woman and are my tax dollars paying for it?" Who is
she? She's a Lipstick Librarian!
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| The Beginning
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The history of lipstick librarians is a troubled
yet glamorous one. During the nineteenth century when librarianship was
in its infancy, librarians were envisioned as the "handmaidens of the
library." It was in 1892 that Wanita Huffington of Saginaw, Michigan,
who, after spending two hours turning an unholy blue while being yanked
into a whale-bone corset, went into what several historians have
identified as "a tizzy", heaving several volumes of the Oxford English
Dictionary at city councilmen and a few stray cats during the
dedication of a new wing. It was then that a few brave souls decided
they'd rather be mistresses rather than handmaidens. Thus,
lipstick librarianship was born.
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| Into the Twentieth Century
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Along with indoor plumbing and the manufacture of
some really hideous shoeware, lipstick librarianship marched proudly into
the twentieth century, stopping only to admire itself discreetly in store
windows. Lipstick Librarians demonstrated their support for the
Suffragette Movement by fighting for free access to the women's underwear
section of the Sears-Roebuck Catalog During World War II, while the
nation suffered the rationing of life's luxuries, Lipstick Librarians
added a little sunshine to the lives of countless housewives with their
amazing ability to synthesize a fairly decent rouge using library glue and
red-ink stamp pads.
So the next time you see a Lipstick Librarian hiding behind clothes racks in a department store, struggling to put on a size-6 Betsey Johnson mini-skirt underneath her dress after a big lunch, or driving cosmetic salespeople crazy by asking if they can switch lipsticks in that free-with-any-purchase-over-18-dollars gift, think of the unique heritage they've provided (not to mention tips on where to find designer-label clothing wholesale) for our profession. |
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