Pamela Anderson's style evolution: From pin-up to poised and make-up free

The National

2 days ago

The Pamela Anderson of today, who is garnering global attention for her understated looks on The Naked Gun press tour, is a far cry from the Anderson who burst onto the scene in the early 1990s.
At the time, she was a self-styled blonde bombshell, her look didn't take long to grow overly exaggerated, as she took to hiding behind a platinum blonde bouffant, heavy lip liner and diminishing clothing as her fame went stratospheric.
However, her fashion instincts have always been strong. She turned a red swimsuit into a fashion must-have when she bagged the role of CJ Parker in the TV series Baywatch (1992-1997), and sparked a bridal trend for white bikinis when she married Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee on a beach in Mexico.
In 1996, at the height of her pin-up status, she starred in the film Barb Wire, playing a high-heeled anti-hero. Although panned by critics, the film went on to earn a cult following, partly due to Anderson doing many of her own stunts wearing a corset so tight, it gave her a 17-inch waist.
Yet, interestingly, Anderson's story has evolved outside the male gaze. A devoted vegan and outspoken activist since her twenties, in 2006, while campaigning for the release of Native American activist Leonard Peltier, she met the late Dame Vivienne Westwood, in a meeting of minds that would transform her public image.
Westwood, the punk priestess of British fashion, recognised something of her own rebellion in Anderson, sending her down the runway for the spring/summer 2008 Red Label show, and making her the face of the brand's campaign. It was an unexpected friendship that would endure until Westwood's death.
After the death of her long-time makeup artist Alexis Vogel in 2019, Anderson stepped away from cosmetics completely, proclaiming it did not feel the same without Vogel. In 2022, she reinvented herself again as a singer, making her Broadway debut in the role of Roxie in the musical Chicago.
And amid the acclaim for her performance, Anderson quietly retired her high-glamour persona. By the time she appeared in the 2023 Netflix documentary, Pamela, A Love Story, she was barefaced and unguarded, revealing an almost innocent free-spiritedness.
Her new confidence was clear at The Row's spring 2024 show in Paris, when Anderson arrived in a masculine suit with not one, but two suit blazers worn one over the other, for the sort of directional aesthetic usually favoured by fashion editors.
Following her role in the film The Last Showgirl, which earned her nods at the Sag and Golden Globes awards, Anderson travelled to Paris for the spring 2025 haute couture season, where she became something of a style sensation. With a chic wardrobe of powerful yet understated looks, she embodied quiet luxury in palazzo pants at Chanel and a belted tweed trouser suit at Dior.
For her Met Gala debut in May 2025, Anderson drew plaudits for a Joan of Arc-style bob worn with a moulded, encrusted silver Tory Burch gown.
The recent press tour for her latest film, The Naked Gun, in which she stars alongside Liam Neeson, Anderson has shifted deeper into confident elegance, seen as a custom-made strapless Rodarte gown for the London premiere, as well as a Ferragamo cape dress and leopard pillbox hat that echoed Jackie Kennedy at a camera call the following day. For the New York event, she wore a navy blue custom gown by Thom Browne with short lace gloves and a diamond brooch, while in Berlin, she walked the red carpet in a pleated, dark green look by Danielle Frankel.
At the age of 58, Anderson remains sans make-up, a quiet act of rebellion that speaks volumes of her self-acceptance in a youth-obsessed movie industry. From poster girl to fashion force, Pamela Anderson has emerged as the unexpected muse of a generation redefining beauty on its own terms. No longer only a pin-up, she is a symbol of resilience, refinement and the power of personal style. And in the grand theatre of fashion, few comebacks have felt this powerful, or this beautifully real.