“Rich, decadent, radical!” said makeup artist Stephane Marais of the sharp, glittering, onyx-colored wing he was drawing onto model Catherine McNeil’s eyes backstage at Haider Ackermann this morning. “This woman has no fear.” At first glance, the tough yet decorative slash of pigment seemed to echo the designer’s Palais de Chaillot runway, which was being covered with handfuls of sparkling black dust in the hour before the show—but according to Marais, the connection was a happy coincidence. “We looked at the collection a few days ago and we felt that something was missing,” said Marais, referring to the hair and makeup. “It needed something more aggressive but still beautiful.” Eventually, he suggested a shimmering “punk wing” of eyeliner that would be both rebellious and sophisticated. “[Haider] said, ‘That’s funny—did you know that my [runway] is made of black glitter too?’ ”
To create the graphic shape, Marais was tracing MAC Pro Black Creme Liner onto the eyes with a thin brush. “We wanted it to look like she took a magic marker and just made a pffff with it,” he said, imitating the quick movement with a short, terse movement. “It should look almost like a sketch.” Once it had dried, he dabbed a thin layer of professional makeup glue on top, then pressed bits of MAC Pro Black Glittercraft dust on top with a fingertip. He kept the rest of the face bare. “It’s just delicate transparent skin and a natural lip,” he said. “This woman likes to travel light.”
Hairstylist Eugene Souleiman was also playing on the contrast between strength and fragility with his “victory-roll-meets-quiff”-meets-ponytail. “It’s a bit of a contradiction—quite hard and then quite soft,” he said of the glossy, sculptural look. Just before models went onto the runway, he was pulling a section at the hairline free and letting it fall in a wispy veil over the eyes that floated gently when they walked. The idea “isn’t so much about the hair, but the woman who might wear the hair,” said Souleiman. “And that’s the whole point, isn’t it?”
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