The devil, but make it couture.
The spring 2023 couture shows kicked off in Paris with a visual spectacle at Schiaparelli. Inspired by Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, the show saw supermodels Shalom Harlow, Irina Shayk, and Naomi Campbell glide down the catwalk in looks adorned with animal heads made from foam.
As for the beauty, artistic director Daniel Roseberry’s signature surreal gold-plated faces were brought to life with glistening bronze-gold face and body paint, blurring the boundaries between real bodies and inanimate objects.
“Schiaparelli’s collection is a beguiling blend of femininity and masculinity,” says makeup artist Pat McGrath. To achieve the look, McGrath elevated models’ complexions with a mixture of Divine Skin: Rose 001 The Essence and Skin Fetish: Sublime Perfection on some, tending to others with her new Love Collection FetishEyes: Liquid Eye Shadow in Platinum Bronze. “The result is a mesmerizing canvas of radiant, multidimensional, and luminous beauties,” she says. “Evocative of sublime sculptures; a true feast for the eyes.”
And then there’s Doja Cat. Extending this idea of a live sculpture onto the front row, McGrath and her team adorned the singer with crimson Swarovski crystals for a “shimmering, scintillating, and subversive look.”
“Collaborating with the incomparably talented Doja Cat and Daniel Roseberry was an absolute pleasure,” McGrath says. “Her patience and dedication as she sat with Team Pat McGrath and I for four hours and 58 minutes to achieve the creation, covered in over 30,000 hand-applied Swarovski crystals, was truly inspiring.”
Working alongside McGrath, legendary hairstylist Guido swept models’ hair back into chic wet-look updos so as not to distract from the silhouettes of the collection, adding touches of gold here and there for a sculptural effect.
This article first appeared on British Vogue.
