Out of This World

It was back to the future for beauty at the Paris haute couture shows in January. At Christian Dior, makeup artist Pat McGrath conceived five extravagant looks, one of which included eyes surrounded with sequins, pieces of paper in acid-bright colors and iridescent paillettes “for the illusion of poisonous flowers,” she said. McGrath described another look with “multihued and speckled feathers [that] mimic the textures of fur and snakeskin, while solid bright feathers across the lids give the appearance of fanciful bird wings.” Coifs at Dior had a hyperfuturistic take, too. Stylist Orlando Pita fashioned tresses into architectural updos or “frizzy, flying saucers.” At Armani Privé, heads were spangled with shards of black Perspex by hairstylist Paul Hanlon, while at Givenchy (where the look was predominantly fresh and natural), makeup artist Stéphane Marais created foreheads swathed in black sparkles and eyes darkened for an angel-morphed-into-conqueror appearance on a handful of models.