A lipstick is worth a hundred words
by Jessica M

The New York Dolls’ gritty, flashy, androgynous look was an important part of their proto-punk, glam-rock identity. For the cover of their self-titled debut album of 1973, the band’s five members posed on an antique couch, wearing tight pants, platform shoes, teased hair, and full make-up—including heavy lipstick. The album’s title is scrawled with a bright pink “lipstick” that seems to lie on the photo’s surface. This cover is just as iconic as the raucous music inside, and the lipstick completes it! (A few years later, a compilation album of the Dolls’ early, unreleased demo tapes was titled “Lipstick Killers.”)

Cover of New York Dolls by Toshi (1973), via nydolls.org