LO-FI LUXURY
This season’s looks were a subtle nod to beauty without spectacle. Think a low-key approach to primping and preening that looks effortless but needs a touch of upkeep. By Lilith Hardie Lupica.
This season’s looks were a subtle nod to beauty without spectacle. Think a low-key approach to primping and preening that looks effortless but needs a touch of upkeep.
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 beautifullooking girls – 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-FUSS NAILS
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, awash 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.