Adieu, Paris Fashion Week – and Thank You for All That Extraness

The best way to accessorize a collection dominated by red and black hues? Red and black hair, of course. Famed hair colorist Josh Wood and his team created a custom red color that was then creatively wrapped into the hair by Guido Palau. “It needed to be hi vis as there’s a small amount punctuating the style and it’s tightly crafted to the head. It allows you to see it from 10 meters off,” Wood explained.

Stripy strands were also spotted at Olivier Theyskens, where Wella’s Global Creative Director Eugene Souleiman complemented the show’s gothic-romance vibe with contrasting textures and wet, grungy black sections. As Coty Professional Beauty President Sylvie Moreau described, it was “a true collaboration of rawness and refinement in one single creation”.

Applying your eyeshadow solely on your lids is so last season as, according to Pat McGrath, now’s the time to stretch it up to totally cover your brows. We’re talking bright oranges, pastel purples, and defined stripes aplenty, making Maison Margiela’s beauty look one of the boldest on the runway.

It was all about the eyes at Giambattista Valli, where Isamaya Ffrench applied rectangular Swarovski crystals to create a glass goggle effect. To ensure all eyes were on the sparkly stares, skin was kept clean and simple, lashes bare, and lips au naturel. Embellished beauty, here we come.

What do you get when The Addams Family meets futuristic aliens? Haider Ackermann’s beauty look. Makeup artist Lynsey Alexander focused on pale, washed-out complexions and bleached brows, while hairstylist Duffy created gravity-defying bouffants complete with spidery bangs.

You can always trust Tom Pecheux to create an elegant, wearable look – and his jewel-tone creation for Altuzarra didn’t disappoint. Blending a purple pigment into a deep emerald green to create a dreamy ombré effect, it’s safe to say he has inspired us to ditch the dark shadows in favor of a colorful graphic wing.

It’s time to make Billie Eilish your beauty muse as partings were all colors under the rainbow at Dries Van Noten – including her signature lime-green hue, courtesy of dyed feathers. “When I talked with Dries about his collection, he said it was inspired by the late 70s, early 80s club scene, when girls would get very dressed up to go out,” explained hairstylist Sam McKnight. “There was a certain dark romance, we looked at the photos and makeup of Serge Lutens and then Dries thought, ‘But what might these night people do now, in this century?’”

Armed with her ‘Perma Precision Liquid Eyeliner’ and delicate black crystals, McGrath created the goth glam look of dreams at Valentino. Her abstract, negative-space cat-eye was perfectly complemented by Palau’s sleek low buns and deep side-parts.

Speaking of gothic beauty, McGrath also created spooky monochrome creations for Yohji Yamamoto, which saw lips half-shaded with gray, skin coated in a thick pale base, and black scribbles painted around the eyes. Hair was a mix of wet-look and matte-dry textures reminiscent of a scrawny bird’s nest – meet bedhead beauty 2.0.

It’s time to channel your inner Debbie Harry because Ffrench loaded lips with glossy red lipstick – smeared for that rockstar touch – and defined eyes with smudged back liner at Junya Watanabe. Over on hair, Souleiman was inspired by the hairstyle Harry sported during the 80s, creating bespoke black and platinum-blonde wigs that took a whole month to make!

It’s time to ditch those brow boosters and definers because, over at Thome Browne, bleached brows were back with a big beauty bang, courtesy of glue sticks and concealer – not forgetting those amazing black silicone wigs. They were the work of Souleiman, too.

Vintage glamour met modern-day punk at Miu Miu, where the beauty look was inspired by old-school Alfred Hitchcock heroines. Hair was coiffed into 50s-esque roller curls at the front, while lengths were kept loose and messy. Models were then given a dramatic cat-eye look thanks to McGrath, who created everything from double-liner flicks to graphic block shapes, even throwing some bright blue hues into the mix.

What do you get when a world-renowned flower artist collaborates with one of the most creative hairstylists and makeup artists in the industry? A big, bold, botanical beauty look like no other. Japanese label Noir Kei Ninomiya broke all the beauty rules with its sculptural headpieces adorned with live plants and flowers alongside warpaint-like makeup applied down the face. Wallflowers need not apply.