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Forget cut crease eyeshadow looks and precision cat-eye flicks. According to Peter Philips, creative and image director at Dior Makeup, there’s an easier way to wear your eyeliner: deconstructed. “We have created a deconstructed eye – something between a smoky eye and an eyeliner,” he tells me backstage at the French fashion house’s autumn/winter 2023 show. “It’s a strong look – up close it looks beautiful, but it is also visible from far away, which was essential, because the catwalk is huge.”
With models walking down a “colourful set, full of textures”, designed by Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos, Philips’s aim was to create a beauty look that stood out without clashing against the eye-catching background. “If you do really elaborate make-up, it blends in with the background. It’s better to stand out, so the deconstructed eye fit the bill, alongside a very nude face and lip.”
Taking inspiration from strong French women in the ’50s and ’60s – underground French singer and actress, Juliette Gréco, a regular on the bohemian scene in Saint-Germain-de-Pres, was a key muse – Philips wanted to evoke the “melancholic mood” of the time via the eye make-up. “This look is not a literal interpretation of how the make-up was worn in those days, but more about the feel of the time,” he says. “It’s melancholic, a bit nostalgic and sad, just like Saint-Germain in the ’60s. At the same time, it feels almost punk.”
To create the look, he drew the Diorshow 24H Stylo in 091 matte black roughly around the eyes, blending it in with a Q-tip or pointed brush. Then, he took the black shade in the brand’s 5 Couleurs eyeshadow palette (in 079 Black Bow) and “accentuated the beginning of the eye’s arch, as well as underneath in the outer corners”, he tells me. “I pushed colour into the inner and outer corners to intensify the area – the rest is blurry and blended.” He didn’t use mascara to avoid making the look “too pretty”, an effect he says is better for real-world make-up looks, rather than those found on the catwalk.
There was “no highlighter, no contouring” on models’ skin, because of the dramatic play of shadow and light on the catwalk. “It’s better to keep it pure or there’s no way to tell between a real and drawn shadow,” he adds. Using the Forever Skin collection, he began using the new Forever Glow Veil to create a luminous, even canvas, then followed it with the Forever Skin Glow Foundation, a long-wearing, hydrating formula that melts beautifully into skin; and finished with the Dior Forever Skin Correct where models needed extra coverage. “We also elongated the second half of brows to create an elegant, ’60s feel.”
Hairstylist (and Vogue’s contributing beauty editor) Guido Palau created hair that was “punky in a way that’s kind of dishevelled”. “A lot of the girls have got a very simple ponytail that’s pulled back from the face,” he said. “I used Oribe’s volumising Maximista Thickening Spray to blow hair into the ponytail. They’re wearing a beautiful Dior headband, which has a crinkled ribbon attached to it.” Those with textured hair have fine, slightly angled braids. “It’s a very Maria Grazia idea of beauty,” Palau concludes. “Simplistic, but embraces personality.”
This article was originally published on British Vogue.
