The planet of revolution and transformation moving through a Venus-ruled sign means that not only will femininity undergo transformation, femininity will be the transformation.
From a pile of stuff
Uranus in Taurus: the outer planets and loungewear beyond lockdown
By Molly Arnthal
There’s a specific kind of dialogue that happens between retail workers. It’s like horse chat or whatever dads talk about in Halfords. It’s a banal and entertaining chat that lets you peel back your surgical mask for a few minutes and leave all differences aside. I recently worked with a new manager who had previously worked in luxury fashion so it wasn’t long before we started comparing uniforms and discounts. I was telling her that when I joined 10 years ago; it was required we wear black mandarin collared shirts, one pair of ear studs, manicured nails, and five ‘visible’ items of makeup. She told me that she had to purchase a season’s worth of uniforms from £250 evening dresses, and makeup and heels were compulsory. Primarily a menswear brand, her male colleagues selected their uniform from £60 polos, trousers, and nice trainers. Only when the women’s range was eventually expanded could they press the company for more comfortable workwear.
Uranus moved into Taurus in March 2019, and it is staying there until 2026. Uranus rules newness, the future, new trends and inventions, innovations, revolutions, revelations. Taurus is an earthy, steady sign. When I visualise a Taurus I know, she’s got a soft but sturdy body, thick long hair, fresh face with only bronzer if she decides to wear makeup at all, she wears comfortable clothes, moisturises every 30 minutes, is doted on by wealthy men, and (genuinely) carries chilli flakes in her handbag. Comfortable in the Taurean sense is not unkempt or slobbish, however, it’s a quiet kind of luxury. Taurus is ruled by Venus, meaning the biggest changes we’ll see on a macro and micro scale will be to do with wealth, femininity, and beauty.
Working in beauty, I’ve noticed the surge in new and innovative natural skincare products over the last year. The ‘five visible items’ policy was relaxed years ago, but since lockdown few of us are wearing makeup like we used to. Globally, we are more concerned with how our skin is faring under the mask than how it’s looking above it. My company’s makeup range has depleted; any new products are primarily focused on creating fresh, dewy, healthy skin. Since 2018, the eye makeup range has more than halved and the eyeshadows have disappeared almost completely. Weirdly, not many customers miss it. Thinking back to the high street I visited in 2017, faces on the street were made to look a very different way. British makeup was heavy Instagram eyes on a weekday lunchtime, over-lined matte Huda lips, baking, strobing. It was at that time the Youtube beauty vloggers were securing their Morphe collaborations and Pat McGrath was shipping lipsticks in literal bags of sequins. Three years later women are almost entirely barefaced. Once a Chanel counter girl, my mother has recently stopped wearing foundation all together. Now it's brushed brows, undetectable fillers and tailored skincare regimes. For the first time globally we’re seeing a huge increase in acceptance of acned skin, scars, physical imperfections. My friend said to me the other day ‘I can’t remember the last time I bothered to conceal a spot.’
I don’t know when my colleague’s uniform policy was relaxed, but I’ll wager it was sometime last year. Women aren’t being held to the standards they were even 10 years ago; as we lean away from uncomfortable shoes and makeup, men are starting to lean into it. This goes from Gary getting his monthly mani-pedi all the way to The Boyz Identity Film ‘Generation Z’. Men I know are getting big into cooking, painting nails, wearing feminine fragrances, dyeing their hair bright colours. The planet of revolution and transformation moving through a Venus-ruled sign means that not only will femininity undergo transformation, femininity will be the transformation. Astrologers predict this will only accelerate over the next few years when Pluto shifts into Aquarius. Aquarius is ruled by Uranus, which naturally rebels against the norm, meaning we’ll see current gender roles flipped on their head.
Uranus in Taurus indicates a departure from glamour in the ways we’ve known it in the past. Albeit heavily influenced by a pandemic, people are living laughing and loving in earth toned loungewear now. As people start to get rich in this transit - and they will overnight - they’re going to look for better ways to spend their money. We’re collectively moving away from a need to impress others loudly with flashy, expensive things. Fast fashion has consumed the global market from bottom to top and the result is there’s very little money can’t buy in 2020. No one cares about £1110 sandals made in a sweatshop with some insignificant detail finished in Italy. Especially not if Shein is going to put out an identical pair in a month for £20. People are already abandoning labels in favour of something more unique - celebrities are sourcing pieces from small designers they find on Instagram.
This seven year period will see exclusivity being increasingly more about personal value, less about money, and when Pluto shifts into Aquarius, things will simplify even further. Pluto is the planet of death and rebirth, and its shift beckons in a new generation; the Pluto in Virgo generation are the Boomers, the Pluto in Scorpios are the Millennials etc. By the time it rolls into green, clean, humanitarian Aquarius, the community will play a bigger role in how we live and shop: simple fashion, an end to sweatshops, batch skincare made by friends. Pluto is the planet of death and rebirth, the leveller of every single person on this planet at some point in their lifetime. The rights of sweatshop workers have long been ignored but the influence of outer planets will put the not-so-transparent big brands through the cheese grater. This is something I’ve always found the most interesting about astrology and the denial of astrology. The same big planets and aspects that can make celebrities are the same that can break them. The death of Instagram influenced fast fashion and trend-chasing unsustainable beauty can’t come a moment too soon, but hopefully it won’t come too late.
By Molly Arnthal. Read Molly’s piece on Fuckboys and where to find them in issue 4.