Pamela Anderson has always known how to command attention. In the '90s, her image was impossible to escape—plastered across billboards, TVs, and the collective imagination of a generation. The iconic Baywatch red one-piece, tousled blonde hair (earlier this week, I was reminded that people are still asking for ‘The Pamela’ in salons, just as they are ‘The Rachel’), sky-high heels, heavy kohl eyeliner, and whisper-thin eyebrows became part of a visual language that defined a decade of sex symbols. In many ways, it still does. But as with all trends, what once read as hyper-feminine, kittenish, even aspirational, has taken on more complex meanings. The public, and Pamela herself, have since interrogated the gaze that built and defined her.
Now, in her 50s, Pamela Anderson has done something radical once again. In a media culture still eerily obsessed with youth and polish, she’s stripped it all away.
