Different Strokes: Next-Level Black Liner at NYFW

On the runway at Oscar de la Renta Alessandro Garofalo / Indigitalimages.com

Black eyeliner is an indisputable makeup-bag staple, but during New York fashion week we saw countless cat-eyes and abstract iterations appear on the runway. At Suno, makeup master Alice Lane used Maybelline New York Eye Studio Master Graphic to “tag” models’ lids with a thick stroke on the outer half of the eye. (“It’s like a marker,” she said, while creating painterly doodles on paper backstage.) Meanwhile, geometrically outlined creases were seen at Yigal Azrouël, and face painter Charlotte Tilbury crafted a classic flick at Edun. Behind the scenes at Rag & Bone, Gucci Westman made blunt, futuristic strokes with NARS Eyeliner Stylo, noting Milla Jovovich in The Fifth Element and Jean Seberg as reference points. Diane Kendal employed a combo of Marc Jacobs Beauty Highliner Gel Eye Crayon and Magic Marc’er Precision Pen on MBMJ’s revolutionary women in berets, while she reached for MAC’s Fluidline in Blacktrack to tailor a sophisticated swoosh to each model’s top lids at Oscar de la Renta. Makeup artist Romero Jennings’ method for drawing the perfect shape: Stencil the wing with concealer, apply a black cream formula to the back of your hand, then fill in the shape. “If you go from pot to eye, the product is too wet and you get a bit of a wiggle,” he said. “I like to dry it a little.” We even saw Dick Page “melt” liner along lash lines with Shiseido’s Benefiance Lip Treatment at Narciso Rodriguez and bands of black on the typically bare eyes at Calvin Klein. One step to modern, cool-girl maquillage? Consider us sold.