SEPTEMBER 2019 173
KEEPING IT REAL
The entire autumn/winter ’19/’20 season was
underpinned by the notion of discretion, with
both hair and make-up artists noting that
understated polish speaks volumes about the
wearer. It’s less about creating a disguise and
more about enhancing what lies beneath.
“You have a bunch of really beautiful-
lookinggirls – you cast them for a reason – so
polish is right. I’m talking about it being kind
of discreet grooming,” said make-up artist
Dick Page of the Jacquemus girls, whose hair
was pulled back or tucked behind the ears,
with a wash of chocolate brown swiped
across eyes.
At Alberta Ferretti, Tom Pecheux spoke of
“leftover make-up”, noting it was all about
the skin and just a touch of maquillage.
Echoing his words, Carole Colombani coined
the term “10 per cent look” at Lemaire,
explaining she applied a tenth of what she
could have done. “For the brows, I just
brushed them on the brow line with some
translucent ink – the skin is the same. I just
used a concealer and mixed it with the
moisturiser.”
JUST TOUCHED-UP LIPS
There was a subtle flush to pouts – think
a hint of a hue that quietly speaks of using
colour with confidence. The shade is ‘your
lips but better’; carefully selected tints were
seen on well-manicured mouths. At Christian
Dior, Peter Philips dubbed it a transparent
rose, while at Oscar de la Renta, Tom Pecheux
used two shades of red for a subtle ombré
take that evaporated at the lip line. The trick
here is to perfect a look that appears seamless
and easy but, ironically, may require a little
effort in the beginning.
SUPERNATURAL SKIN
A post-facial glow was what make-up artists
were after backstage, employing the deft
hands of skincare gurus from across the globe
to massage life back into the faces of exhausted
models before showtime. The effect? Skin that
glowed from the inside out, with only a light
touch of make-up required. Cult skincare
brand Augustinus Bader was on hand at
Victoria Beckham, while Hungarian favourite
Omorovicza was pressed into skin at Emilio
Pucci by way of a rose quartz roller.
“The girls are really tired, since we’re at the
end of this whirlwind, and skin was just
looking pale,” explained Tata Harper
backstage at Stella McCartney. “We have
incorporated a lot of facial massages into
the prep to help revive skin. We did tons of
lymphatic drainage.”NO-FUSSNAILS
The lesson from autumn/winter ’19/’20
was simple: nails must be well groomed
(trimmed and buffed to perfection) and
polish kept to a minimum – just a dollop of
colour here and there. At Brandon Maxwell,
Brock Collection, Peter Pilotto and Antonio
Marras, the polish was dubbed a milky
nude, with the latter adding pearl accents to
finish off the look. Over at Simone Rocha,
a wash of pink was painted on to complement
each complexion, with Marian Newman
exclaiming that they blushed like cheeks.
“It’s literally top coat with a little drop of
a red. When you put it on the nails it
just gives it a little hint of a blush, but
completely sheer, so you see the natural nail
underneath,” she said.WELL-RESTED HAIR
“I feel this hair has the same kind of quality as
a cashmere sweater or some super-expensive
thing,” said hair guru Guido Palau during the
shows. He rolled out this approach at Alberta
Ferretti and Christopher Kane, reiterating
“this downplay of the hair styling is the
ultimate kind of luxury”.
All those hair-related adjectives you crave
were present: shine, body and movement,
while natural texture was also fully embraced.
Picture post-swim hair, but without the
unruliness. “Once you have the natural
texture you air-dry, then put Redken’s
No Blow Dry cream in to seal the damp hair.
Then I would always blow-dry the hairline
out, for a beautiful clean luxury look,” Palau
explained at Christopher Kane.WALLFLOWER BROWS
We’ve finally reached a happy place with our
brows, embracing the natural arch and
plucking only where necessary. But that’s not
to say we should stagnate on the upkeep:
quite the opposite. A carefully executed
assault on the eyebrows means taking the
time to fill and brush, but not over-line or
overwhelm, just like at Jacquemus, where
eyebrows sat neatly over the eyes without
overpowering the look. ■Dior
Backstage
Glow Face
Palette in
Glitz, $76.Bourjois
Healthy
Mix Anti
Fatigue
Powder in
Vanilla, $27.Chanel
Ultra Le
Teint Velvet
Blurring
Smooth
Effect
Foundation
in B60, $78.Estée Lauder Pure
Color Envy Lip Repair
Elixir, $45.Sally
Hansen
Xtreme
Wear Nail
Color in
Rainbow
Rave, $5.L’Oréal Infallible Magic
Loose Powder, $25.Ilia Liquid Light Serum
Highlighter in Astrid, $64.L’ O r é a l
Revitalift
Filler 7 Day
Replumping
Ampoules,
$50.