People can’t get over the incredible Maison Margiela show this Couture Week, destined to remain indelible not only in our minds but in the fashion archives. Under the creative direction of John Galliano, the fashion house presented a true spectacle that included every form of art, from body movements to the actual collection clothes for which according to a press release, Galliano used 15 several sewing, draping and embellishment techniques, many of which he invented.
But what played a decidedly fundamental role was makeup.
Makeup artist Pat McGrath, Galliano’s legendary collaborator from his Dior days, transformed the models into porcelain dolls, painting their eyes and lips in shades of pastel colors. But taking the look to the next level was the glassy, surreal skin that shone like polished, smooth wax.
A cream blush (the Legendary Glow Color Balm by Pat McGrath Labs) rigorously applied to the center of the cheeks recreated the typical “doll blush”, while the lips were covered with a transparent gloss to blend in with the translucent finish of the rest of the face.
With their broken and alienating movements, Margiela’s living dolls took possession of the catwalk with their skin transformed into a silky and disturbingly shiny surface.
The presence of this make-up played a fundamental role in telling Galliano’s story, a meditation on the “ritual of dressing” as a “composition of the self”. The fashion house also described the looks as “a study of the muse-like relationship between artists and their anatomical lay dolls”.
Now, the glassy and alien faces of the models have gone viral on social media, where users and enthusiasts are wondering how it was possible to create such an amazing make-up and with which products.
Although McGrath herself has not revealed the secret of her technique for achieving this effect, the Internet has obviously speculated on some theories.
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What helped were the many videos published by the models themselves after the show who, removing their make-up, peeled off their second doll-like skin from their faces like a sort of sticky mask.
Some speculate that McGrath used Kryolan Liquid Glass, a liquid enamel that dries to a reflective finish. “The liquid glass can be lifted like a film after being completely dried,” the product page specifies.
Now it is not certain that the product in question is actually this. But for those who want to emulate the Margiela Doll look, it can be a valid discovery!
