The Badge Archive

Beauty Icon Bio: Claude Cahun

Name: Claude Cahun (born Lucy Schwob)
Time Period: 1894–1954
Region: France and Jersey (Surrealist and Resistance Era)

Appearance
Claude Cahun was admired for their androgynous features and theatrical presentation.

  • They had a shaved or closely cropped head, soft facial structure, and expressive eyes.
  • Their makeup often included heart-shaped cheek accents, dark lipstick, and exaggerated lashes.
  • Their body was slender and flexible, often posed in ambiguous or symbolic ways.
  • They used mirrors, costumes, and cropped framing to blur gender cues and challenge the viewer.

Their appearance became a visual manifesto, defying binaries and inviting introspection.

Style
Cahun’s fashion was surreal, symbolic, and deliberately unclassifiable.

  • They wore both masculine and feminine garments: sailor suits, corsets, robes, and boxing gear.
  • Their costumes included masks, wigs, dolls, and props that disrupted identity and narrative.
  • They collaborated with partner Marcel Moore to stage self-portraits as living collages.
  • Their clothing often referenced mythology, theater, and political satire.

Their style fused performance, protest, and poetic rebellion.

Reputation
Cahun was admired for their intellect, mystery, and radical courage.

  • They published surrealist writings, gender-bending monologues, and anti-memoirs.
  • They joined revolutionary artist groups and befriended André Breton, who called them “one of the most curious spirits of our time.”
  • They lived openly with their partner, defied gender norms, and resisted Nazi occupation.
  • They were sentenced to death for anti-fascist propaganda but survived until liberation.

Their reputation blended artistic brilliance with fearless resistance.

Cultural Impact
Cahun’s legacy shaped queer theory, feminist art, and surrealist history.

  • Their self-portraits inspired artists like Cindy Sherman, Gillian Wearing, and David Bowie.
  • They became a symbol of nonbinary identity, creative defiance, and political art.
  • They resisted Nazi occupation during WWII by creating and spreading surreal anti-fascist propaganda.
  • Their work reemerged in the 1990s and now appears in major exhibitions and fashion retrospectives.
  • Their quote, “Neuter is the only gender that always suits me”, remains a rallying cry for gender freedom.

Their cultural impact proves that beauty can be fluid, subversive, and transformative.

Resources:

Scouts can use these trusted sources to learn more or expand their notes:

–

–

Tia Kennard