Peter Philips spent his whole weekend single-handedly cutting seventy pairs of silver adhesive eyeliner that he used on the Dior Couture runway. And just hours before the show began, he received word that the house had worked out a way to produce them. (Look for them on-counter around the holidays.) “The collection explored contradictions, so we wanted to keep it pretty and pure. I just wanted to add one element that was highly contrasting and artificial,” he explained. Metallic liner emerged as the ideal counterpoint to the mirror-and-orchid set. Philips calls it the “empty eye”—meaning no mascara—bolstered by a little white kohl to fade out the lower lashes and a sweep of yellow and white shadows from the forthcoming Candy Choc palette under well-groomed brows. To even out the base, Philips reached for Dior’s new Star Foundation (for drier complexions, he used Capture), followed by a combo of Dior Blush in Rose Corolle and Starlight on the cheekbones (available internationally in October), and polished off pouts with Rouge Dior lipstick in Trompe L’Oeil (a peachy nude). Nails, too, were kept short, neat, and nude, with one coat of gel polish in Muguet followed by a layer of Dior Glow. “She looks like a fragile flower but with historical and futuristic crosscurrents,” he said. “When she moves, she catches the light.”
For hair, the look was natural and unforced. “It’s fresh and modern without reference to any past,” noted Guido Palau backstage. “Raf Simons’ Dior woman has put her clothes on and [needn’t] over-bother with her hair.” Palau employed Redken Pillow Proof dry shampoo for texture, added a few extensions, and let the parts fall where they may. “We’re entering a transitional time in beauty where things seem to be much simpler. Women can’t complain anymore that they can’t do it,” he noted, adding with a smile, “which means there are no excuses anymore!”
