Some praised her willingness to move between glam and natural styles, while others mocked the gown’s loose shape or criticized her makeup, turning her Milan arrival into one of the more debated fashion moments of the week.
From ’90s Glam to Going Makeup-Free
Anderson’s relationship with makeup has shifted dramatically over the decades. Speaking with Elle in 2023, she described her 1990s aesthetic as “wild and uninhibited,” a period defined by bold color, glitter, and a sense of playfulness rather than calculation.
“I don’t know if it was a defense mechanism or what,” she said. “I just thought, ‘I’m going to have fun.'” That fun sometimes lingered longer than intended — she recalled leaving traces of the previous day’s makeup on, with glitter occasionally following her to her children’s school for days afterward.
Decades later, Anderson revisited that era for a 2024 Smashbox campaign, telling Harper’s Bazaar the collaboration gave her a chance the beauty industry hadn’t offered her back in the ’90s. She called the throwback a “wink to the past,” while making clear it wasn’t her current look.
That current look began taking shape around 2023, when Anderson started appearing at events without her signature glam. Her makeup-free arrival at Paris Fashion Week became a particular talking point, and she told Harper’s Bazaar Australia the attention surprised her since the decision had been personal.
“I mean how much more makeup could you put on someone?” she said. “I just peeled it back.” She’s since described her approach as a simple binary: “For me, it’s either no makeup – or a showgirl.”
The Metallic Gold Look in Milan
On September 22, 2026, Anderson attended Vogue World: Milano 2026 in a loose, floor-length metallic gold gown with a fluid, draped silhouette and a black layer visible beneath the hem. She accessorized with a chunky gold statement necklace, rings, and a small structured black handbag.
She smiled and waved to onlookers upon arrival. Her platinum-blonde bob was styled in defined, vintage-inspired curls swept to one side — a shade Vogue reported she’d recently returned to at her son’s request, worn in what the outlet described as “full Old Hollywood” curls. Her look included black eyeliner along her lower waterline, black shadow across her lids, and lashes that added definition to a smoky eye, paired with a glossy pink lip.
Fans React to Her Latest Style
The gown’s voluminous shape and Anderson’s more dramatic eye makeup drew sharply different reactions online. One Instagram user compared the dress’s loose silhouette to a “Sack of potatoes,” while another wrote, “No!!! Looks like a golden glazed, baked potato with that ear of corn silk sticking out.” A separate comment simply asked, “Is that a parachute?”
Others zeroed in on her face. “Eyebrows ….. they make a HUGE difference,” one person wrote, while another remarked, “Still no eyebrows.” A different commenter criticized the overall makeup application directly: “Who ever did her make up, did her wrong.”
Not everyone objected. One supporter wrote, “It’s smoky eyes. What’s the drama? I love the look and love that she is normalizing either no makeup or less makeup.” Another said, “Honestly I like her with no makeup but I love a full glam situation too.”
Anderson Calls Her Beauty Choices an Ongoing Experiment
Asked by Harper’s Bazaar which period of her beauty evolution felt most like her, Anderson pointed to her current look alongside her “Baywatch” days, when she said she insisted on wearing waterproof eyelashes.
She described changing her appearance as something that extends beyond cosmetics, saying she enjoys inhabiting different characters and treats clothing, mood, music, and the people around her as part of how she presents herself. She compared the experience to performance art, something meant to be fun rather than taken too seriously.
Anderson also pushed back on any suggestion that going makeup-free was a statement. “I am not trying to say that I’m this natural-beauty guru,” she said. “I’m just experimenting.” She recalled questioning why she should spend hours in a makeup chair in Paris instead of walking the city.
Her thinking traces back further. Anderson has said her mother placed a strong emphasis on beauty, telling her that being pretty made a person more powerful, while Anderson herself felt insecure growing up. She says she’s still working through those ideas, and that it matters to remember “what’s underneath it all” before having what she calls “the conversation with makeup.”