The Best Beauty Details From Haute Couture Week Spring/Summer 2024

The Best Beauty Details From Haute Couture Week Spring/Summer 2024

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When it came to SS24 haute couture week, runway beauty reached new heights. Here’s a list of the best hair and makeup looks that set the standard for all catwalks in 2024

Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2024 was a veritable feast for the eyes. It may be over, but we’re still reeling over everything we’ve seen. SS24 haute couture week was a history-making celebration of the avant-garde, with houses the likes of Alaïa, Maison Margiela, and Schiaparelli leading the charge. Hand in hand with sartorial artistry is the practice of runway beauty, where hair and makeup are held to the same standard for storytelling. Considering the wide variety of art directions, from elevated classics to surrealism, we put together all our favorite hair and makeup looks. Here, see our pick of the standout beauty details from the couture catwalks that we look forward to seeing more of on future runways and red carpets.

Porcelain skin

Maison Margiela SS24 Couture runway looks by Pat McGrath
Maison Margiela SS24 runway beauty
Maison Margiela SS24 Couture runway looks by Pat McGrath
Maison Margiela SS24 runway beauty
Maison Margiela SS24 Couture runway looks by Pat McGrath
Porcelain skin at Maison Margiela SS24

Makeup icon Pat McGrath adds a totally new dimension to the idea of “glass skin”. But at the Maison Margiela Artisanal Show, there is no pretense or play at being all-natural. Here, skin is radiant to the point of surrealism, eyebrows are bleached, shaved, or pencil-thin, and colors are seemingly painted onto porcelain. To create these runway looks, McGrath used her own products, namely Mothership I: Subliminal and Divine Skin: Rose 001™ The Essence. The porcelain-like effect also, as expected, takes skill and precision equipment, as a mix of clear peel-off face mask and water is airbrushed in layers over the makeup base. The Maison Margiela SS24 Couture collection marks the comeback of the partnership between Pat McGrath and John Galliano, with the designer’s Fall 2007 Ready-to-Wear fashion show as a past example of the creative duo’s play on eccentrics making headlines.

Embellishments galore

Schiaparelli Haute Couture SS24 runway looks by Pat McGrath
Schiaparelli Haute Couture SS24 runway looks
Schiaparelli Haute Couture SS24 runway looks by Pat McGrath
Schiaparelli Haute Couture SS24 runway looks

Another beauty detail we loved to see at haute couture week was the renewed love for rhinestones. One of the collections that stood out to us was Schiaparelli’s for the debut of the instantly iconic crystal ear, courtesy of Pat McGrath and her team. You see the makeup artist’s influence as well in the bleached brow look and sparkling skin. Notably, she used Sublime Skin Highlighter in Nude Opal, a new limited-edition shade.

RELATED: Daniel Roseberry Goes to Space in the Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2024 Collection

Robert Wun SS24 runway beauty
Robert Wun SS24 runway beauty; Photo: CHEN XI (via Instagram)

When it comes to embellishments, Schiaparelli is not where it ends. Robert Wun also made heads turn at his couture SS24 show, aptly titled “For Love”. Topping off the mesmerizing phantasmagoria of horror-inspired imagery was the work of makeup artist Valentina Li. She and her team embellished the models’ faces using crystal gems to create illusory blood splatters, heart-shaped lips, and more.

RELATED: Is Clean Girl Beauty Over? It’s Time to Embrace Messy 90s Grunge Makeup

Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture collection beauty details
Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture collection beauty details
Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture collection beauty details
Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture collection beauty details

Worth mentioning as well was the use of crystal face gems at the Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture SS24 fashion show. Here, makeup artist Thomas de Kluyver used gems in place of product on the lips, brow bone, and eye area, making the models look like walking pieces of art.

RELATED: How Simone Rocha Sculpts Femininity For Jean Paul Gaultier SS24 Haute Couture Collection

Flora and feathers

Giambattista Valli Haute Couture N°26
Giambattista Valli Haute Couture N°26
Giambattista Valli Haute Couture N°26
Giambattista Valli Haute Couture N°26
Giambattista Valli Haute Couture N°26
Runway looks at Giambattista Valli SS24

At haute couture week, Giambattista Valli gave another noteworthy display of artistry, where beauty and fashion are melded together. This collection experimented with volumes, dedicating itself to the infinite beauty of the unfinished. To complement this vision, makeup artist Karin Westerlund and hairstylist Pier Paolo Lai created beauty details that are larger than life, with black feathers standing in for black eyeliner and large velvet bows and fresh bouquets decorating the models’ hair.

Alexis Mabille Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2024 runway beauty
Alexis Mabille Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2024 runway beauty; Photo: LLOYD SIMMONDS (via Instagram)

Feathers were also a common element at the Alexis Mabille haute couture show. Feather eyeliner brings a whole new meaning to the classic winged eye, with makeup artists like Lloyd Simmonds leading the charge for this avant-garde movement.

Romantic accessories

Margaret Qualley in Chanel SS24 Haute Couture show
Margaret Qualley in Chanel SS24 Haute Couture show
Dior Couture Spring-Summer 2024 show
Dior Couture Spring-Summer 2024 show

If there’s anything to take away from haute couture week 2024, it’s that hairbows and ribbons are still in style. At the forefront of this enduring trend are major houses like Viktor & Rolf, Chanel, and Dior, for instance. Besides Giambattista Valli, the other couture house to utilize wide black bows in its show was Chanel, but where they differ is in the length and material of the bows. And while Chanel used satin ribbons classically, Dior took the route of “fearless femininity” by juxtaposing smudged black eyeliner with delicate black ribbons tied to the back of a braided bun.

RELATED: Virginie Viard Celebrates Stories in the Chanel Spring/Summer 2024 Haute Couture Collection

Viktor & Rolf Scissorhands Haute Couture SS24 collection runway beauty details
Viktor & Rolf Scissorhands Haute Couture SS24 collection
Viktor & Rolf Scissorhands Haute Couture SS24 collection runway beauty details
Viktor & Rolf Scissorhands Haute Couture SS24 collection

Finishing off our list of best beauty details is none other than Viktor & Rolf. The couture house also utilized ribbons at their show entitled “Scissorhands,” which contained designs adorned with decorative slashes and holes. Structural updos complemented these designs; slicked back, swooped, and joined by small black ribbons. All in all, the creative team elevated an undeniable classic.

Photos: PAT MCGRATH, SCHIAPARELLI, JEAN PAUL GAULTIER, GIAMBATTISTA VALLI, CHANEL, DIOR, VIKTOR & ROLF (via Instagram)
Featured Image: ROBERT MERCIER (via Instagram)

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