Weird and Wonderful Beauty for Fall 2023
PARIS — Parading down a number of catwalks during the recent fall ready-to-wear Paris season was weird and wonderful makeup and hair that transcended the ordinary.
At Giambattista Valli, for instance, some models’ eyelids were decorated with colored foil resembling mosaics.
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“During the test, Giambattista took us through the inspiration for the collection, the color palette, the idea of this strong-willed empress and an element of modern-day rock ’n’ roll,” said makeup artist Lauren Parsons. “We both like a little magic and beautiful fresh skin, and the idea came to me to make some form of wearable jewelry — regal colors done in an imperfect way. Enter the mosaic lids.”
Parsons crafted bespoke foils in complementary and clashing colors to those running through the fashion collection.
“I wanted to keep each mosaic fragmented but applied in a historically classic cat-eye shape,” she said. “I love the classics being reimagined with a modern eye. To me, that’s beautiful.”
Over at Undercover, makeup artist Uda Kesho put what looked like red, uneven feathers around models’ eyes. He said there was no main inspiration for that.
“However, when Jun [Takahashi, Undercover’s designer] requested me to do makeup with the image of pale-pink skin [like] Dracula, the idea of a strong red eye popped into my mind as an element that includes a strong will and insanity, while also fragileness and [naïveté].”
Peter Philips, creative and image director of Christian Dior makeup, created for the house a deconstructed smoky eye, which was finely rendered on certain parts of peepers.
He called it “a simple but smoky look, in contrast with the colorful creations of Joana Vasconcelos, whose art dressed the [show] venue.”
For Issey Miyake, some models had a double parting, starting in the middle of their foreheads then jutting outward. Hairstylist Pawel Solis said the idea for the look came from the graphic features of the house’s clothes.
“There were lots of triangles and different shapes,” he said. Once the parts were made, Solis then braided models’ tresses at the backs of their heads.
At Off-White, beauty was otherworldly, too. Hairstylist Jawara applied metal disks to slicked-back hair.
Makeup artist Isamaya Ffrench, who was recently named beauty curator for the fashion brand, underlined some models’ eyes with a silver liner. Their ears were made to resemble ringed disks.
“When we discussed the collection, called ‘Lunar Delivery,’ before the show with Ib [Kamara, Off-White’s designer], he showed me the mood board and there was a big space-age feel to it, which I wanted to build the makeup on without going full ‘Space Odyssey,’” Ffrench said.
“It still needed to feel modern and beautiful,” she continued. “We came up with a very dewy skin for all models, with a couple variations of an off-black smoky eye with matte yellow or orange accents on the brow bone, a silver look and two statement looks, which consisted of sticking dozens of silver eyelets on models’ heads — which were my favorites.”
Strange and fabulous beauty was also noted at fashion shows including Chloé, Yohji Yamamoto and Kiko Kostadinov.
Launch Gallery: Weird and Wonderful Beauty Trend for Fall 2023
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