Once upon a time, it was considered perfectly normal for men to wear make-up; that was until the Victorian era, the 1800s. As a result, for much of the 20th century, the very notion of male vanity was frowned upon, associated with de-masculine and feminised men. However, the rise of the metro man in the last two decades has seen things change again.
Mahalapye-born Gorata Lefatshe, Access TV’s make-up artist and entrepreneur, is slowly reintroducing the concept in our parts. Lefatshe recently went viral for beautifying an unlikely client, General Nankase (real name Orapeleng Kwatle). The 33-year-old beautician and entrepreneur tells Voice Woman the Ramotswa social media sensation is actually one of her many male regulars.
“If men can accept wearing make-up for a couple of minutes or hours for TV or the catwalk, then certainly they’d have no qualms sprucing up for a photo shoot, let alone for special occasions,” she quips. After nine frustrating years without work, Lefatshe decided to try her hand at the beauty industry, realising she would have to offer something different if she was to make it in the saturated market. “Suffering the brunt of unemployment for a long time taught me to become enterprising and innovative.
After graduating with a BA in Software Engineering from Botho College in 2014, I struggled to find a job but was eager to learn new skills like make-up artistry, thanks to YouTube. I later sought the services of a professional to perfect my art and pra.
