Courtesy of Sam McKnight
Every season a new beauty trend is born, from bleached brows to faux freckles. For autumn/winter 2024, it’s the turn of doll-like beauty – and specifically perfect doll skin.
We saw it at Harris Reed on the eve of the London shows, and at Richard Quinn’s autumn/winter 2024 show Terry Barber, MAC’s global creative director, masterminded the models’ “Victorian mannequin skin”. The skin is “very, very perfect: mannequin-like highlight without being wet,” explained Barber. Barber and team used MAC’s repertoire of skin-illuminating products – including the Mineralize Skinfinish Powder in Lightscapade, which was technically applied from the edge of the face inwards. The flawless base was polished off with a perfect swollen ’80s lip shape that was “strict, straight and overlined”. Think “Sean Young in Blade Runner, or Catherine Deneuve in The Hunger. That severe, red velvet matte,” explained Barber, who used MAC’s Retro Matte Liquid Lipstick in Feels So Grand to achieve the look.
Hairstylist Sam McKnight’s sculpted up-dos, meanwhile, harked back to the hair seen on couture runways back in the ’80s. McKnight and his team created lacquered, precision styles for the Richard Quinn catwalk by carefully moulding models’ hair into two separate sections. The bottom section was styled into a French pleat and then the top section – from the temple back to the crown and round to the opposite temple – was curled using 25mm tongs (accuracy is key), brushed into a wave and pinned into place, and then finished with a dusting of McKnight’s Modern Hairspray to hold. Depending on texture, McKnight applied a finishing product to enhance shine.
This article was originally published on British Vogue.
