Schiaparelli opened couture week in Paris turning models into Schiaparaliens– a groundwork for Pat McGrath’s “out-of-this-world” light-catching makeup. With Rihanna front row, Dior turned to a two-step eye look which emphasized a smoky lash line. Meanwhile, the Chanel show proved big black bows are the new “little black dress” with ballerina beauty looks taking center stage.
Towards the end of the week, Simone Rocha took over Jean Paul Gaultier with folkloric beauty: crystallized eye contours and hairy bowtie earrings. Maison Margiela closed fashion week by turning models into porcelain Marie Antoinette dolls with bird’s nest hairdos– a revival of John Galliano’s AW07 show.
Below are the must-see beauty moments from the SS24 couture week in Paris.
Schiaparelli
This season, the beauty look at Schiaparelli was “all about structuring the face with light to create a truly out-of-this world effect,” makeup artist Pat McGrath says in a press release. With anticipation at a fever-pitch, the show’s makeup informed a collection linked to space and astrology, which the designer says “has always been an informal code of the Maison.”
As a nod to that, McGrath turned models into Schiaparaliens with Sublime Skin Highlighter to sculpt multidimensional cheekbones before thumbing the Highlighter + Balm Duo on top. Fusing old-world couture with new world techniques, their eyelids were topped off with the Mothership I and V palettes for a gold-and-pearl shimmer, while their brows were lightened and toned.
But the most “cosmic couture accessory” of them all? While holding an electrode-encrusted baby, one of the models had her left ear coated in hundreds of crystals which took makeup artists over two-hours to hand craft. But that’s what couture is all about, right?
Dior
When Rihanna arrived at Dior couture we knew it would be a show. The brand’s first Black ambassador’s romantic beauty look– black-lined lips and doll-like blush– predicted the intense and soft makeup in the French house’s latest collection. “It is a two-step eye look,” Dior Makeup Director, Peter Philips says in the press release.
Underneath gorgeous cornrows were eyes smudged with a smoky linker on the lower lash line. He “emphasized [the look] with a strong line of Diorshow On Stage Crayon in #099 Black, then the light brown shade from the Diorshow 5 Couleurs in #539 Grand Bal palette, which I applied along the upper lash line.” For a touch of brightness, he applied a pale powdery shade at the eyelid’s center, finishing the look with structured eyebrows and a “pure and luminous” complexion.
Chanel
Creative Director of Chanel, Virginie Viard revisited the feminine ribbons in which Coco Chanel snipped in an ode to balletcore. The show– which was prefaced by a short film Naomi Campbell, Kendrick Lamar, and Dave Free collaborated with Chanel on– was centered around a dangling button which represented “beauty within the imperfections of time.” To pair with tutu skirts and white tights, the hair and makeup channeled ballerinas, who took to the stage like clockwork.
Black bows with coquettish fabric were pinned into their coiffed, half-up hairstyles. The feminine details included feathered brows– which were held in place with the Longwear Eyebrow Gel– and flushed cheeks, absent of the doll-like blush we may have expected from the frilled looks. Instead, the makeup artists used the house’s Baume Essential in the shade “Lilas” to sculpt around the models’ cheekbones and eyes for a reflective, mermaid-esque beauty look.
Jean Paul Gaultier
This season’s Guest Couturier at Jean Paul Gaultier was Simone Rocha, a designer who delivered her romanticized, coquettish looks to Parisian haute couture. Drawing in a posh front row– including Jordyn Woods, Shygirl and PinkPantheress– the invitees witnessed Rocha’s folkloric, bow-adorned fairytale first hand (and the beauty looks that spun out of it).
Makeup Artist Thomas De Kluyver ornamented the models’ lips, eyes, and brows with baroque silver, red, and black jewels. Scarlet crystals contoured their skin, while jewels encrusted their nails. To top it all off, some models rocked bow earrings, which took a page out of the folkloric book Simone Rocha is known for.
Maison Margiela
Maison Margiela’s SS24 couture collection was all about fantasy, emotion, and memories. Presented at Pont Alexandre III– a bridge models appeared to have stumbled onto from a brothel– Galliano tightly cinched into a bustier the waists of lollygagging, rag dollish models, who sat on padded bums. To add to the mix, makeup artist Pat McGrath added to the drunken elegance with porcelain doll-like makeup, thanks to serum-slugged faces.
The Marie Antoinette-esque look– peach-toned blush, blue eyeshadows (from McGrath LABS Mothership I palette), pin-thin eyebrows, and heart-shaped MatteTrance lipstick – complemented birds nest updos and greasy, aristocratic wigs. Needless to say, the show was one for the books– marking an undeniable high point for the house, which ended up being a dark, rainy update to his AW07 collection.
