Our Top Ten Fall Beauty Trends
Keep it simple, keep it low-maintenance, and, when in doubt, keep it close to Kate Moss. That seemed to be the prevailing wisdom among the hair and makeup teams working on the Fall collections. But amid the minimalist maquillage, there were some flickering moments of exciting experimentation. We name the highlights.
—Celia Ellenberg
—Celia Ellenberg
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1. smells like teen spirit
Gen Xers looking to recapture your disaffected youth, this is your year. With buzzwords like "grunge," "tomboyish," and "early nineties" playing on repeat backstage, bare faces, greasy eyes, and deconstructed bed heads were everywhere. One memorable example: the glorified comb-over Guido Palau created at Alexander Wang.
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2. the kate moss factor
If makeup artists weren't taking inspiration from Seattle circa '92, they were looking to another style phenom who defined that era (and every era since). "Picture Kate Moss when she wakes up," said Gucci Westman, as she used Q-tips doused in makeup remover to jostle up her liner job at Rag & Bone—a useful trick if you want the smudged, slept-in look, but not the after-effects of falling asleep with your makeup on.
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3. bust a move
Not every designer had tomboys or waifs in mind. Marc Jacobs, for one, channeled a wasp-waisted Brigitte Bardot at Louis Vuitton, where Laetitia Casta, Bar Refaeli, and Adriana Lima showcased a full pout—and a full poitrine.
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4. the big tease
Retro silhouettes call for retro hairstyles. Teased sixties-era beehives took the spotlight at Prada (pictured), Karl Lagerfeld, and Giles, while back-combing at the crown gave the down 'dos at Rochas and Nina Ricci that crucial height.
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5. paint it red
We saw deep purple lips at Peter Som, Missoni, and Proenza Schouler and hot pink pouts at YSL. Red ruled the season, though, showing up everywhere from Hervé Léger, Prabal Gurung, and United Bamboo to Dsquared², Dolce & Gabbana, and Givenchy (pictured).
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6. liner notes
Pat McGrath played with orange and purple half circles at Miu Miu, and Peter Philips re-created a painted print borrowed from bags and shoes at Chanel. But Stéphane Marais really took eyeliner to the extreme, placing dashes of pigment above and below the eyes at Zac Posen. The desired effect: "trashy with dignity."
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7. shadow play
When it came to eye shadow, a single swipe across the lids just wouldn't do. At Derek Lam, full applications of the stuff reached all the way up to the brow, and, more surprisingly, color was dragged across the lower lash line in place of liner, demanding a clean, understated, no-mascara fringe. Blasphemy for devout Latisse users, we know.
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8. arch madness
The brow was back for Fall. We saw filled-in arches at The Row and Narciso Rodriguez (pictured), but that was just the beginning: Pat McGrath used candy-colored shades of acid green and icy blue at Balenciaga, and who'd have thought that Linda Cantello's "double brow" in hot pink and gray at Armani could frame the face so well?
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9. streaks of genius
Bright colors made their way into hairstyles, too, as Spring's streaks phenomenon continued apace. Wella Professionals lead colorist Eva Scrivo broke out aqua, peach, cassis, and navy highlights at Cynthia Rowley, while hot pink and orange extensions accented ponytails at Miu Miu (pictured).
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10. nailing it
The pretty-meets-punk concept carried over into the nail department. Chains and beads dangled off fingers at Gareth Pugh, where models' foreheads were airbrushed black to match. The user-friendly factor here isn't high—good luck typing with those tips. For a more real-world application of the trend, we suggest crushed-glass glitter overlays or block lettering.
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