Runway Make-Up HC F/W 2015.16

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Atelier Versace
Make-Up: Pat McGrath.
Hair: Guido Palau.



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One of Donatella Versace’s signatures is her smoky eye, but this season the designer and makeup guru Pat McGrath decided it was time to inject some color and brighten up. “We’re keeping it sexy but giving it a much lighter feel with pale, shimmery greens, using the same tone for every girl,” the face painter noted backstage before the show. “It’s much more romantic but still a little tough.” Continuing her thought, mane master Guido Palau added: “It’s about natural hair but very rock ’n’ roll and a little ’70s in a way—really cool couture.” The pro left strands long and loose, then roughed them up with Redken Wind Blown texturizing spray. “They look like beautiful nymphs in gorgeous dresses with headbands,” he said. Speaking in chorus, the duo noted that once they saw the collection anchored by those leafy crowns, it instantly sealed the feel of their final beauty look: “It’s healthy, beautiful skin that glows to perfection,” explained McGrath of the high-fashion fairies who floated down the orchid-strewn runway. Based on high-gloss platform boots, thigh-grazing slits, and skin-baring cutouts, however, we have a feeling these otherworldly nymphs have a naughty side.

 

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Christian Dior
Make-Up: Peter Philips.
Hair: Guido Palau.



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Pretty and pure were two of the key words Raf Simons mentioned in discussing the Dior Couture beauty look with makeup maestro Peter Philips. But the notion was actually more nuanced than that; Hieronymus Bosch’s famous triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights was also in the mix—lending am element of darkness to the rather angelic concept. “You’ve got innocence, sin, and punishment all together there,” said Philips of the prominent piece of art. The result was Botticelli girl-meets-the “glow of sin.” The pro based models’ complexions with Diorskin Star Foundation and added a quick sweep of apricot-hued Diorshow Mono Eyeshadow in Pareo (a shade available only in Europe). “Botticelli [women] don’t wear mascara or liner,” Philips pointed out of the intentionally undefined eyes and lashes. On lips, he applied Dior Addict Lip Maximizer in Pink for a glossy finish. The magic touch—the actual “glow of sin”—didn’t go on until just before the girls stepped onto the catwalk. “It’s a professional product [consisting] of just purified glycerin,” he said, brandishing the unmarked white tube. “It’s not pearly like normal glycerin, and it’s not greasy, it just sits nicely on the skin. You tap it onto the face and eyelids to make them nice and shiny,” he explained. The effect was more of a gentle glisten than a detectable highlight: “She doesn’t sweat, she glows,” said Philips. (We’d expect nothing less from the Dior woman wearing couture.).

 

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The Botticelli reference was present, though not literal, for the hair. “I think the set and the clothes really needed hair that looks very natural, with a little bit of wave,” noted Guido Palau, who employed Redken Fashion Waves sea salt spray to encourage natural movement. “With all these beautiful, rich fabrics, designers are asking for a bit of softness to the girl,” he said. “There’s something about real beauty at the moment—even if we’re using extensions for almost all of the girls—in that it has to look natural, clean, and romantic. No hairspray—nothing. The minute hair starts looking fake, it’s all wrong.” Similar to the virginal dresses that floated down the runway atop dazzling platform sandals, this pared-down package (at least from the neck up) was all about ease.

 

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Giambattista Valli
Make-Up: Val Garland.
Hair: Eugene Souleiman.



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To be honest, it’s quite raw,” offered Eugene Souleiman of the perfectly imperfect copper-wash ponytails at Giambattista Valli Couture. Getting such a simple effect is trickier than it appears: “It’s kind of pulled back at the sides for a more boyish effect,” he explained, reaching for words to describe his technique before concluding, “It should feel like it’s been done with hands, rather than being wrapped around a curling iron. It has to feel real.” Souleiman used Wella’s Dry Me dry shampoo to add texture before using a sherbet-colored spray that mirrored the fluoro orange finale gown. “It’s not hard to do, but it’s one of those things where you have to have a feeling for it,” he said. “Doing nothing is hard—you either have the feeling or you don’t. You can teach technique, but you can’t teach feeling. It’s quite personal.”

 

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“The makeup is very real and simple,” noted makeup pro Val Garland backstage before the show. To conjure modern-day Talitha Gettys, she distilled the beauty look down to three elements: perfect skin, a sweep of eyeliner, and a “cellophane lip.” For models’ complexions, she reached for MAC Mineralize Timecheck Lotion, Matchmaster foundation, concealer, and sometimes a tinted moisturizer to lend a lighter finish. To anyone wondering how to keep that band of black from smudging: “I’m using [Fluidline in] Blacktrack and black cream liner—sometimes both, with the cream liner on top—and it just stays put,” she said. For lips, Garland employed MAC Plushglass in Ample Pink and blended it with Mixing Medium Shine for a glossy pout that played off the hits of metallic raffia on the runway.

 

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Armani Privé
Make-Up: Linda Cantello.
Hair: Roberta Bellazzi.



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I like to break the rules,” said makeup artist Linda Cantello backstage at Armani Privé’s Fall ’15 Couture show. “Why do we have to wear red or dark burgundy lips in the winter? Why can’t we wear shocking pink?” The maquillage master demonstrated quite clearly that you can pull off this nearly neon shade, whether you’re wearing a blazer or a full-on feather ball gown—and the Armani customer will, no matter the temperature outside. “It’s about a woman who owns it,” added the pro. The short black wigs styled by Roberta Bellazzi called for equally bold brows, which Cantello emphasized with a blend of Giorgio Armani Beauty Eye & Brow Maestro in 1 (black) and 13 (platinum). A bespoke blush—a mix of Crema Nuda and pink pigment—lent a “healthy” flush to models’ complexions, while the house’s Eye Tint in 7 and 12 were smudged around lash lines for definition. “We couldn’t do a lip and no eye,” said the face painter. (Apparently, there is at least one rule she’s willing to uphold.) The pièce de résistance—the loud mouth—came courtesy of the forthcoming Ecstasy Lacquer in Maharajah (on shelves in September). Fingertips and toes were painted with a coordinating polish dubbed Shocking—a hue whipped up backstage in the portable Armani Runway Lab. Newcomer Emmy Krüger, a model who racked up an impressive list of shows (Dior, Giambattista Valli, Chanel, and Armani Privé) for her first season out, remarked of the runway look: “It’s not a haircut I’ll do in my spare time, but it feels nice to go for it for one day!” That pink pout, however, is something every woman can work on the regular. For those not willing to wait for the long-wear, lipstick-balm-gloss hybrid to launch, we suggest swiping on Rouge D’Armani Sheer Lipstick in 508 from the Bright Ribbon collection for a quick hit of color. “Maybe pink is the new red,” proclaimed Cantello prior to the designer’s parade of fuchsia on the catwalk. Now that’s the kind of bold statement we’re more than willing to back up.

 

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Valentino
Make-Up: Pat McGrath.
Hair: Guido Palau.



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Middle parts. Half-up hair. Braids. Accessories. We’ve seen them all at one point or another on the Valentino runway. Today’s couture show in Rome’s Piazza Mignanelli combined all the aforementioned elements into one standing-ovation-worthy look. Guido Palau’s backstage creations stayed true to the show’s “Mirabilia Romae” theme, as models’ strands were twisted around ornate gold crowns (reminiscent of the coveted tiaras crafted for Spring ’15) adorned with gilded starbursts, animals, insects, and dramatic peacock feathers. Loose, romantic waves were tempered with low-slung plaits that grazed the middle of catwalkers’ backs. In tandem with Pat McGrath’s touches of pearly highlighter and luminescent skin that glowed under Italy’s setting sun, the result was fit for a Roman empress…or red-carpet royalty like Gwyneth Paltrow seated in the front row. “[The designers] really have a way of conjuring up all the things that women want,” Palau once said of Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli, and tonight’s enchanting, head-to-toe package was no exception. Fashion’s tough-to-impress crowd agreed—as Style.com’s Nicole Phelps remarked on Instagram, it’s rare to see the elite spring to their feet…and not make a hasty exit postshow. Here in the beauty department, we were also clapping—and not just for the breathtaking gowns that mirrored togas and Roman armor in shape, but for the wondrous display of so many Valentino beauty signatures effortlessly intertwined from the neck up.

 

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Maison Margiela Artisanal
Make-Up: Pat McGrath.
Hair: Eugene Souleiman.



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With John Galliano at the helm, the house of Margiela is never one to play it safe, especially when it comes to beauty—and today’s show was no exception. Face painter Pat McGrath devised a slew of looks that kept pace with the designer’s sculptural silhouettes and vivid hits of color. Molly Bair, Maja Salamon, and mariée Irina Liss took the white liner trend one step further with pearly, painted-on eye masks made to look like delicate netting, while fellow catwalkers Magdalena Jasek and Eva Berzina wore a single swatch of paint reminiscent of torn fabric. The other directional was much more chromatic: Exaggerated cat-eye shapes done in striking Yves Klein blue surrounded models’ eyes, while Barbora Bruskova and Anna Grostina sported geometric cobalt cutouts expertly adhered from temple to temple. And male model John Whiles walked the runway with a dramatic cornflower pout and matching turban. (For those not willing to go to extremes, a quick swipe of sapphire or ivory liner transforms your look from basic to bold.) Perhaps the most wearable maquillage on the runway, however, was Katya Ledneva’s ombré pout done in vampy burgundy and blood red.

Instead of hiding bobby pins from view, hair pro Eugene Souleiman put the spotlight on the utilitarian accessories by using them to form neat rows and pinwheels (as seen on Bair, Bruskova, and Sora Choi), hold a cylindrical bun in place, or create the impression of hair via multiple layers of pins that started at the forehead and extended back on catwalker Marte Mei van Haaster. Meanwhile, select models’ angular wigs were scattered with Yayoi Kusama-esque polka dots.

While we don’t have plans to stamp a sleek bob with circles or show up to the office wearing an abstract palm leaf print anytime soon, we are compelled to defy convention—even if that only entails swapping our black liner for Yves Klein blue or artfully adding an extra bobby or two.

 

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Chanel
Make-Up: Tom Pecheux.
Hair: Sam McKnight.



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When Karl Lagerfeld creates computer-designed couture, in what direction do you go for hair? Sculptural? Simple? Neither—the Kaiser tells you, of course. “Karl sent me, as usual, a sketch of a very specific, sharply angled bob, which he felt perfectly accentuated his designs,” said mane master Sam McKnight. “We went to work in the studio, cutting and shaping dark wigs into slightly different lengths and angles.” The end result was a “wig hat,” a “slightly futuristic accessory” we saw the French house call upon at the Resort show in Seoul. Lagerfeld’s only caveat: No blonds. “Even the blond girls were to have a dark wig, which I readily embraced,” said McKnight. The pro swept hair high and tight at the crown to exaggerate the precise cut, but revealed a triangle of models’ hair near the forehead to “soften the effect.” Makeup artist Tom Pecheux exaggerated arches and carved out cheekbones with bold strokes of bright color, polishing off pouts with matte lipstick in rich mauve or striking cherry. And like the sharp, etched-on blush reminiscent of the ’80s (arguably one of beauty’s worst decades), French manicures done in black and white recalled the same decade (and perhaps the storied brand’s classic ballerinas with black toe caps). Only Chanel can make cosmetic concepts once deemed wrong feel so right.

 

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Elie Saab
Make-Up: Tom Pecheux.
Hair: Orlando Pita.



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By Jennifer Weil | WWD

PARIS — As is tradition at Elie Saab, the makeup focus was on models’ eyes.

Tom Pecheux, working with MAC Cosmetics, shaded eyelids in honey and gold in different textures. Peepers also got lashings of black mascara and a line of pencil inside.

“We created a little wing that’s going to give a bit of a rock ‘n’ roll, cool feeling,” he explained. “It will give some edge to the makeup.”

Hairstylist Orlando Pita fashioned models’ tresses into long waves to flow out from under their gold-colored headpieces.

“We’re trying to not really use much product,” he said, adding the idea was “to keep it quite natural, young and fresh — so it doesn’t look too overdone.”

 

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Jean Paul Gaultier
Make-Up: Stéphane Marais.
Hair: Odile Gilbert.



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By Jennifer Weil | WWD

PARIS — This season Jean Paul Gaultier was all about Brittany — for the fashion as well as the beauty look for his couture show.
“We’re totally in a collection that is Celtic,” said hairstylist Odile Gilbert, who explained a tradition from that northwestern part of France involved women of yesteryear wearing tall lacy hats, called bigouden (which represent lighthouses), so their fishermen husbands could see them high atop the cliffs when returning from sea.
In lieu of lace, Gilbert and her team took two weeks to make bigouden-like, hats made out of finely woven hair for many models to sport. These creations include ancient symbolism, such as the triskelion sign.
Other models sported sailor caps or conceptions out of lace.
Makeup artist Stephane Marais also went with the seaside theme.
“The west coast is windy, so they’ve like healthy skin with a blush from the wind on their faces and cheeks,” he said.
Models’ lips were given fruity tints, and eyes a blue line on the top and bottom — a nod to the marine stripes longstanding in Brittany and a Gaultier signature.
“It’s very graphic on the eyes,” said Marais, adding the look overall is “very pure — the whole thing is very health, not glowing but fresh.”

 

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Guido Palau Shares His Backstage Photo Diary From Couture
By Amber Kallor

Couture used to be a platform for spectacle, where designers could live out their greatest fashion fantasies on the runway. And the beauty seemed to follow suit, with models sporting equally creative hair and makeup. If you studied the latest round of shows, however, you’d quickly notice that ease rather than experimental was the word that characterized the majority of looks. “I think the sort of older idea about couture and the grandness with the beauty we’ve seen before is something that designers at the moment are less into,” said Redken global creative director Guido Palau, the man behind the hair at Atelier Versace, Dior, Valentino, and Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda. “Even though these are exquisite pieces of clothing and they’re handcrafted, in most cases I feel like they want the girls to look pretty natural so that people can identify.”

Whether it was a high-octane house influenced by rock ’n’ roll, such as Versace, or a label rooted in Roman antiquity like Valentino, there was an element of softness. And texture played a key role in conveying that message: Palau reached for products like Redken’s Fashion Waves salt spray to coax out movement at Dior, Wind Blown texturizing spray to rough up strands at Atelier Versace and Valentino, and Guts 10 to give hair grip before devising a “loose Sicilian knot” at Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda. “There’s something in the air in regard to how women look and like to look, and even if they’re wearing an expensive gown or suit, there is an ease in the way they want to present themselves,” said Palau. “Each of these houses has a very distinctive woman, and they are very true to them, but I think what’s nice when you talk about all of these women is that they’re very feminine and somewhere there’s a reality to them.”

Designers are also less inclined to reference the past (or at least make it obvious) and are more concentrated on now and what that means to their consumer. “At the moment, I think we’ve gotten to a place where women feel very happy—well, women are never very happy about their hair—but they see that they can have this very undone look and it’s hard to get them back to the blow-dryer,” explained Palau. “There hasn’t really been another time in couture where we’ve seen hair so natural and so simple, and it really is a reflection of where we are today in beauty.” And despite the fact that couture creations are worn by a select few, it’s also a reflection of today’s woman. She doesn’t want to look labored or fussed over—and that aesthetic applies whether she’s wearing a dress that costs as much as a car or a piece straight off the rack.