Haute couture week in Paris was certainly one for the books. Leading couturiers from the likes of Schiaparelli, Jean Paul Gaultier and Chanel showcased their latest iterations of surrealist creations through avant-garde wonders of technique, drape and form. And while all eyes were certainly on the couture down the runways, something else helmed the spotlight at haute couture week: the beauty looks.
Make-up artist Pat McGrath was the moment. The visionary’s make-up looks for Maison Margiela sent the world into a frenzy, as John Galliano’s otherworldly universe of moon-dazed nightlife in 1930’s Paris was brought to life on the visage as well. Muses were transformed into porcelain dolls, with clear coats of gloss airbrushed over sultry watercolour eyeshadow and pencil-thin arched brows. McGrath was also the brains behind Schiaparelli’s couture beauty, with elements of sparkle and the surreal taking course throughout the make-up looks. The catch? The ears were the canvas. Painted with silver pigment and painstakingly bejewelled in hundreds of tiny crystals, each crystallised ear was complete with chunky jewel earrings to match.
It seems jewels were the status quo in the beauty sphere, with models at Robert Wun sporting bejewelled black talons, Queen of Hearts-esque red lips and glistening gem-ladened blood stains trailing from the hairline. It was a testament to Wun’s creative vision, as the designer explored the horror genre through a poetic lens. Meanwhile, it was a romantic folklore affair at Simone Rocha’s guest stint at Jean Paul Gaultier, as her first foray into couture saw crystal embellishments glued to the eyebrows, lids and lips, with clear jewel-encrusted nails to match. Hair artist Holli Smith tamed tresses into dreamy updos, with perfectly pinned space buns held against gentle waves and floating bow earrings tied from wispy strands of hair.
From bold luscious pouts to cashmere-smooth skin that illuminated models’ natural beauty, the Vogue Singapore beauty team wraps up the most memorable beauty looks from the Paris haute couture spring/summer 2024 shows, as seen below.
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Muted tones at Schiaparelli
Dream skin manifested in the form of muted cool-toned greys and beige tones that added dimension and contour to face at Daniel Roseberry‘s Schiaparelli. But the pièce de résistance? Dolphin-smooth glass skin which ensured that high points of the face truly popped. To recreate this look, be sure to bleach your brows for a fashion-forward touch.
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Fresh blooms at Giambattista Valli
Everything’s coming up roses at Giambattista Valli spring/summer 2024 haute couture collection, literally. While make-up flirted with femininity, think: winged liner, creamy skin and peached-tone lips, fresh roses cascading from locks proved to be the mane event for the couturier.
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Porcelain-dolls at Maison Margiela
Consider the beauty world well disrupted. Pat McGrath made magic at Maison Margiela’s head-turning couture spring/summer 2024 show—sending out models with reflective glass skin, which turned out to be a latex-like film that was easily peeled away. Through the midas touches of McGrath’s products according to the vision of creative director John Galliano, the Renaissance woman was reinvented via the disarray of bright colour splotches and thinly-arched eyebrows.
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Embellished features at Jean Paul Gaultier by Simone Rocha
Simone Rocha‘s collection for Jean Paul Gaultier haute couture was packed full of references to fashion’s original enfant terrible while proudly adding the whimsical coquette touches her brand is so beloved for. Case in point: face jewellery embellishing the brows and cheeks.
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Rich, jammy lips at Valentino
The beauty brief for Valentino was simple: clean, soft and bare, if not for the luscious pouts we spotted on several models. Coinciding with Pierpaolo Piccioli’s delicious spread of colours across his couture collection, the occasional glossy sheen accentuated the clothes, while bringing out the wearer’s natural beauty.
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Plum perfection at Georges Chakra
The unconventional dark lip gets a romantic update. With the under eyes brightened in pearlescent swathes of lilac, Georges Chakra achieves an enchanting visage worthy of the ethereal garments shown on the runway. A sense of grandeur—true to the intentions of haute couture—comes to life with the softly-blurred matte plum applied to the models’ pouts.
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Bows and braids at Dior
The Dior lady is strong, poised and feminine. With Maria Grazia Chiuri’s enduring ethos of drawing out power in the soft—the gentle and delicate details on the models’s hair did not go unnoticed. Bows, headbands and intricate braids served only as a dainty reminder to the creative director’s undying ode to femininity.
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Dainty buns at Viktor and Rolf
On the runway, the experimental mood of the clothes were equally excavated in the twisty-turvy buns that were dreamt up at Viktor and Rolf. Just as the garments were a showcase of the punk, distressed mood of ‘Viktor&Rolf Scissorhands’, there was no certainty as to what to expect in terms of the hair details. Buns were sculpted upwards, leftwards, waywards—but elegantly so.
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Dramatic lashes at Alexis Mabille
A wisp of a lash or more at Alexis Mabille who opted to keep the face bare in favour of dramatic lashes this spring/summer 2024.
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Sleek chignons at Fendi
The future Kim Jones saw for Fendi involved an effortless air of minimalism, one that took its turn vacillating between geometrics and soft, sheer garments that floated with the wind. That sleek, chic mood then met its match in those sci-fi, slicked-back chignons perfected to completion by famed hairstylist Guido Palau.
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Cascading crystals at Robert Wun
The horror, the goth, the surreal. If Robert Wun says couture should be fun, then it most definitely will be. And so the beauty notes followed in succession, as a blood-spattered bridal gown saw a crimson cascade of glimmering crystals dripping down cheeks and hastily smeared onto bloodied lips. Whilst translucent beads transformed into droplets of rain—so we could fall in love with the dresses designed for the downpour.
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Gold dust eyes at Gurav Gupta
Clean glowing skin might have been an intentional call when pared against Indian designer Gaurav Gupta’s futuristic collection for couture spring 2024, but it was the shimmer around the temples and gold dusting around the inner lids that made a soft, iridescent impact.
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Dramatic lashes at Miss Sohee
Dusty touches of copper and bronze on the lids, sculpted updos, and glistening body balms. But nothing gave way to the majestic atmosphere Miss Sohee’s couture show quite like those exquisitely lengthened lashes—fanned-out to precision and emboldened by the darkest of shades from Make Up For Ever.
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80s redux at Armani
Clean girl aesthetic, who? The decade of decadence makes a comeback in retro swathes of purple, blue and pink—the mesmerising swirl of hues applied generously to the lids and brows. Whilst an electric outing of cobalt lashes amps up on the glam, paired to no less than a disco-worthy fuschia pout.
