At the Dior show inside the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris, the walls of the set were decorated in an array of historical portraits such as Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring, all reimagined through the feminist gaze of Italian artist Mariella Bettineschi. Each subject’s eyes were duplicated, inviting the viewer to rethink their vantage point. This emphasis on the gaze was the jumping off point for make-up artist Peter Philips.
“It’s very natural, strong beauty—no highlighting, no contouring—with a little twist on the eye,” said Philips backstage of this season’s make-up look, which hinged on a strategically placed swipe of metallic. “It’s almost like a luminous spot of silver on the inner corners.” The pro began by dipping a small, dense flat brush into the silver shade from the Dior Backstage Custom Eye Palette in 001 Universal Neutral and pressing it on the inner corners just outside the eye. Then, he used a Q-tip to blend it downwards and towards the nose. “I didn’t drag it up because then it becomes more like an eyeshadow, more disco make-up, which was not the concept of the show,” he explains. To keep the overall effect fresh and pure, skin was kept matte with a natural-looking finish with Dior Forever foundation and Skin Correct concealer blended only where needed. “The glow on the inner corner of the eyes will pop more if the base isn’t in competition,” says Philips. “That’s why the skin was kept matte.”
The beauty of the silvered eye accent is that it’s not only DIY-friendly, but is an approach that can utilise any light-reflecting pigment, be it white pearl or burnished gold. “It’s very easy to wear, draws attention to your eye, and is something you can combine with almost any make-up,” he explains. “It adds vibrancy to your look.”
In negotiating an accompanying hair look that would showcase the iridescent eyes while also serving as a referential statement in and of itself, hairstylist Guido Palau landed on what he hailed as “the new Renaissance braid” topped off with a sleek, crystal-encrusted headband to “space warrior” effect. After parting the hair clean down the centre, Palau and his team wove lengths smoothed with Hairstory’s Hair Balm into a “very clean, very tight” Dutch braid along the hairline, taking the two plaits in the back and folding them neatly and elegantly at the nape of the neck. “It has one hand in futurism, one hand in the past,” said Palau, who found the overall beauty look a marriage between prettiness and strength that was inspiring—and entirely Dior.
