Seeing Kathy Peiss wearing absolutely no makeup, one might find it ironic that she has dedicated a portion of her career to researching the cosmetics industry and the history of beauty.
But this Penn history professor has spent much of her life studying the subject of beauty and other often-trivialized social topics, which she claims have had significant impacts on the course of history.
"Women have always been concerned with beauty -- look at Hillary Clinton and her hairstyles," Peiss said.
Along with writing a book chronicling the cosmetics industry, Peiss' ability to see history in a new light has catapulted her to the status of chief consultant for the PBS documentary "Miss America," a segment of the network's series "The American Experience."
Airing on Sunday, this program depicts the history of the Miss America beauty pageant, from its conception in 1921 to the present-day.
"There are few documentaries on the history of women, most of which discuss well-known events and people, like women's suffrage and Susan B. Anthon," Peiss said. "This documentary has a more social angle. It shows how women contribute to culture."
Incorporating culture into academia is Peiss' approach to teaching history. Peiss, 48, joined the Penn community this September after teaching at the University of Massachusetts for 15 years.
Since she arrived, Peiss has found that Penn "students are good at integrating other aspects of life into class discussions."
And interacting with her students is what Peiss enjoys most about teaching.
"I like to know about students outside of class. I enjoy talking to them," she said.
Besides affecting her career, Peiss' move to Penn has fostered a love of exploration.
"What I really like is to be in the city," she said. "Philadelphia is very interesting and diverse."
While Peiss' field of study may be unique, she said her day-to-day life is not.
Her passion for scoping out new territory has motivated Peiss to dig into everyday social issues.
"It is just an idiosyncratic approach -- thinking that things most people take for granted are pervasive and probably important," she said.
Peiss first decided to study beauty about ten years ago.
"I was responding to a dominant feminist critique at that time. I felt that beauty as simply a form of women's oppression didn't reflect the complexity of the topic," she said.
This more complex approach enabled Peiss to view beauty from many angles and gave her the background to provide the historical context for the Miss America documentary.
Peiss explained how Bess Meyerson, whose firsthand account is featured in the program, became the first and only Jewish Miss America in 1945 despite encountering prejudice from producers.
The win was "not a surprise," in Peiss' view, since American sympathy was high following the end of World War II and the coinciding revelations of the occurrences in Nazi concentration camps.
Peiss also helped provide an explanation for the changing role of the Miss America pageant, which she claims is no longer just about beauty.
For example, to help boost the pageant's ratings and make the competition seem more important, each contestant now advertises a political platform, ranging from breast cancer awareness to education. Moreover, the Miss America pageant is currently the largest college scholarship donor for women.
But Peiss was quick to debunk popular stereotypes that exist about the pageant's contestants.
"People sense that [participants] are air-heads, but many of them are very shrewd women who want to go into the media and entertainment industry," Peiss said.
Investigating the Miss America competition was important to Peiss because of its social implications -- promoting physical appearances that are often unattainable.
"It [projects] a pretty narrowly defined standard of beauty -- a certain facial or body type that most Americans don't have," Peiss said. "The question is, then, 'Why do people watch it?'"
And while the notions of beauty promoted by the pageant are present in other media outlets, Peiss said that she does not feel this greatly affects students at the University, but she is still interested in investigating what effect they do have.
"I bet it doesn't affect women at Penn much," she said. "I'm interested to know how social pressures affect women who strike me as independent and strong."
Peiss has used beauty as a springboard for her studies of the history of women.
"There is something compelling about women's history that helps to give a narrative of the past to explain where you are now," Peiss said.
Peiss' unique approach to studying and teaching history has made a significant impact on both current and former students.
"I felt like parts of my identity were answered for me because I was able to understand how I have been affected by society and media and tradition," University of Massachusetts senior Laura Siciliano said of Peiss' work.
Aside from teaching, Peiss also wrote the 1998 book Hope in a Jar, which explores the evolution of the cosmetics industry since the early 20th century.
"I tend to like to work on topics that [resonate with] women of all ages," Peiss said. Cosmetics "is often seen as trivial, as if it doesn't have any meaning politically, but it is such a part of life that to me seems important to investigate."
Peiss' book -- the first serious history of cosmetics -- traces the role of women as entrepreneurs in a time when they were prohibited from receiving credit from banks and signing contracts.
With all her accomplishments, Peiss is definitely very busy, but it's safe to bet that the historian will take a break from her busy schedule this weekend to relax in front of the TV -- watching the fruits of her labor.
But don't count on Peiss wearing any makeup.
