Image credits: GoRunway.com
At Haute Couture Week, all eyes are bound to be on the clothes—that’s simply a given. They are, after all, the whole reason the fashion industry descends on Paris for that fateful week. With these extraordinary ensembles taking centre stage, you might be led to believe that any beauty elements that accompany these atelier-made looks are there only to service their sartorial counterparts.
Though they certainly do that, that’s not to say that the hair and make-up we see on the couture runways don’t tell their own stories, too. From the most outlandish, bold statement looks to the minimalist au naturel appearances, haute couture beauty had a big role to play in 2024.
At Simone Rocha’s Jean Paul Gaultier show, faces were as bejewelled as her garments, with diamonds and gems mimicking that of eyeshadow and lipstick, speaking to a bold feminine power that accompanied her rose-hued collection. On Daniel Roseberry’s Schiaparelli runway, bleached eyebrows and slicked back hair played into his man-versus-machine, alien-meets-humanity narrative, with hair and makeup acting as much a blank canvas for the fashion to shine as a part of the story itself.
Virginie Viard explored the tenants of girlishness beyond her collection for Chanel into the beauty space, focusing on the popular hair bow trend in free flowing hair, and unapologetically applying a liberal amount of dusty pink highlighter. Then, at Maison Margiela, the most artisanal of all, where make-up artist Pat McGrath turned models into real life porcelain dolls, a meeting of fantasy and precision that didn’t just support the collection but finished it. Clearly, if last week taught us anything, it’s that an eyeliner pencil and hairbrush are as much a tool of haute couture as chiffon and leather.
Ahead, see all the best beauty moments from Haute Couture Week.
