Exclusive: Miley Cyrus shares what she’s learnt about beauty
The trailblazing pop star on why she’d tell her teen star self to “enjoy your youth and preserve your innocence”.
An iconic pop-culture chameleon, Miley Cyrus’ versatility as a performer extends from her sound to her style. How the star often reinvents her look in line with her music is a very conscious act, she tells Bazaar. “My physical appearance is always an extension of my creativity,” she expresses. “I am very literal when it comes to externally representing the ‘era’.”
Sartorially, her personal and professional lives tell different stories. “On my days off I am usually in all black; there is something classic [about it] – you could find a girl from each generation I’ve admired wearing something similar,” she says. “I like that it’s mysterious and doesn’t draw too much attention to me. Then, when I am on stage, I use colour and fabric to enhance the emotion of the music.”
Scent is another tool she uses to amplify her mood, Cyrus tells us. “Sensuality and Sєxuality are very important to me, so when I have a fragrance that invites more of that into my world it makes me feel confident and empowered.”
She’s sharing these thoughts in her role as the longstanding face of Gucci Beauty, where she’s currently representing the house’s latest fragrance launch, Flora Gorgeous Magnolia – olfactorily symbolic of her recent hit, Flowers, we imagine. For the campaign, sH๏τ by the perennially cool Petra Collins, Cyrus wanted to express “freedom and femininity”. Taking inspiration from free-spirited women, the scent – built around magnolia alba – oozes Cyrus’ characteristics.
“What I’d tell my younger self about beauty? Enjoy your youth and preserve your innocence”
Reflecting on her approach to beauty, freedom is a recurring theme. The 30-year-old Cyrus has learnt to “keep it simple,” she reveals; “more isn’t always better, its only more”.
As one of entertainment’s few child stars whose success has undoubtedly snowballed as an adult, the beauty wisdom she’d gift her younger self would be to “enjoy your youth and preserve your innocence,” she says. “I love the way I painted my face when I was a little girl, only thinking about myself and what I liked – none of the confusing opinions of others you collect as you grow older.”
Having been on a journey with her skincare, navigating struggles with acne, she maintains that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. “My skin cleared up the more I cleaned out my products and kept it minimal and essential,” she says of her routine.
PETRA COLLINS COURTESY OF GUCCI BEAUTYHowever, Cyrus’ beauty rituals are “more focused on mental and emotional care,” she shares. “There is nothing Sєxier than someone being in their honest feelings. So I nurture myself as a human and that radiates through my skin and invites people in to do the same when we’re together, which depends connection.”
To Cyrus, “self-care is self-love,” and it’s about “taking time to worship yourself”. Central to this is exercise. “Outside of music, physical fitness is my most pᴀssionate creative outlet,” she tells us. “I find so much fun in choreographing my workouts. I think there is a greater chance of maintaining a fitness commitment if you don’t think of it as work but as play.” Cyrus is proof of many things, not least that there’s great power in playfulness.
