Numerous makeup artists took a bold approach to beauty during the recent spring 2023 women’s ready-to-wear fashion season in Paris.
At Dior, designer Maria Grazia Chiuri created a collection inspired by Catherine de Medici.
“It’s a very Baroque, Renaissance page in world history,” said Peter Philips, creative and image director of Christian Dior makeup. “That shows in the clothes. As for the makeup, she showed me a picture of a girl, he continued, referring to model Stella Lucia.
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“She showed me her face and said: ‘I love the makeup there,’” Philips said. “And I said: ‘Why don’t we then take her as a muse?’ Because it’s kind of amazing to have this historical figure, which is very recognizable, and for makeup, you take a girl from today, from her social media page.
“She’s a girl in a room playing with eyeliners, and she has a very unique look,” he added.
That translated into a strong eye, with liner extended slightly on either side of the lids, top and bottom. On skin, Philips used a limited-edition eye shadow palette, 349 Pret-a-Porter, that was available for just 72 hours following the show.
At Anrealage, makeup artist Kanako Yoshida emphasized models’ eyes, with a dark, graphic element that rose to the brow line.
“For Paris Fashion Week, Anrealage elevated staging to show both outside and inside of clothes, so I concentrated…to create an opposite appearance, like strong, grunge and graphic,” she said.
For Andrew Gn, makeup artist Christina Lutz went for both bold eyes and lips.
“Andrew was inspired by a Cleopatra look for this collection,” she said. “We started from a color-block idea. I created very pigmented and strong colors in blues and greens for the eyes, keeping a graphic element underlined with black liners.
“For the lips, I created flashy colors in highly pigmented oranges, fuchsias and reds,” Lutz said. “All makeup looks embody a contemporary, modern look with glowing skin and a fresh complexion.”
At Mame Kurogouchi, makeup artist Hiromi Ueda colored models’ lips with iridescent hues, such as yellow and green.
“The inspiration was taken from Japanese bamboo forests. I wanted to express ‘the rustle and movement of plants,’ by layering lip colors,” she said. “You can achieve the look by layering a few colors in the center of the lip. I like to apply them quite randomly with a flat lip brush. I’ve then blended in some slightly, while leaving some of the shapes sharp.
“For the second look, I used a color pencil to draw on the natural lip line, leaving some gaps bare on the outer corners of the mouth,” continued Ueda. “The center was kept free, too, to show the natural lip color, which created a good contrast. To bring that fresh color of the natural lip out even more, I added some gloss just in the middle. It made the look become alive, like plants in nature.”