Seriously sculpted hair, Twiggy-inspired lashes and other big beauty trends from Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2019
Brace yourselves — barely-there brows were spotted on the international runways too...
There were certainly a few over-the-top, theatrical beauty moments at Fashion Week this season. The models at Rick Owens sported facial modifications courtesy of Instagram drag artist Salvia, and gold ear coverings and silicone tears were part of the glam arsenal at Gucci, for example. But for the most part, the hair and makeup looks on the runways embraced individualistic, classic, minimalist approaches to beauty.
From effortless low-ponytails to rainbow-hued, painterly eyes, here are the big, inspirational beauty trends for Fall/Winter 2019. You'll be hard-pressed not to fall for at least one of these stunning looks.
Low pony
Sophisticated in appearance yet relatively simple to recreate, the low ponytail featured prominently at shows including Oscar de la Renta, Cushnie and MSGM. Hair accessories such as silk scarves, large ribbons and gold brooches are optional for elevating the look.
At Jonathan Simkhai's NYFW show, hair stylist Odile Gilbert created a romantic take on the trend by loosely twisting and pinning pieces of hair around the pony, at the nape of the neck (the glam red lips at this show were created by Canadian makeup artist Grace Lee).
Barely-there brows
Full, bold brows have been popular in the last few years, and so it makes sense that the pendulum is swinging back the other way, at least for fashion week. Influential makeup artist Pat McGrath — who created the beauty looks at Prada, Valentino and Burberry in tandem with hairstylist Guido Palau — bleached and lightened selected brows backstage at a number of shows this season. The result: extra-impactful eye makeup, and more attention drawn to the hair style.
Exaggerated cat-eye
Sharp, winged black eyeliner is not going anywhere. We spotted the amplified cat-eye look at Missoni, oversized shapes at Erdem and extended lines at Saint Laurent. For Canadian designer Erdem's London Fashion Week show, makeup artist Val Garland used black shadow and gel liner to create the dramatic cat eyes, and Q-tips to perfect the edges.
The key to making this trend look current? Use a super dense black liner, and tweak the shape and size to flatter your own eye shape; there's no one-size-fits-all design.
Sculpted hair
The wet hair look is almost an evergreen trend at this point. But for FW 2019, designers and hairstylists are embracing a more extreme, sculptural slick-hairstyle that's anything but loose and carefree.
At Richard Quinn, for example, several models had their hair sculpted into a shiny, immovable 'do by stylist James Pecis, and hair stylist Anthony Turner created ribbon-like designs in the hair at JW Anderson using plenty of gel product.
Twiggy lashes
From the full lower lashes at Brandon Maxwell, Kate Spade and Tomo Koizumi to the '60s-inspired, drawn-on lines at Dior, exaggerated and faux eyelashes were featured prominently this season (not to mention: there were faux lashes made of real feathers at Peter Pilotto!).
To get the look, note that makeup artist Tom Pecheux used a combination of mascara, falsies and liquid eyeliner to create the eye-opening look at Brandon Maxwell, while artist Peter Philips created the dramatic eye at Dior by layering Dior's Onstage Liner in Matte Black and Diorshow Pump'n'Volume mascara 090 on top of a black cream eyeshadow.
Artful lids
Nevermind colouring within the lines for fall — anything goes with the rainbow-coloured, freestyle eye looks we spotted at shows including Eckhaus Latta, Collina Strada, On/Off and Chromat. For Eckhaus Latta, makeup artist Ismaya Ffrench used an airbrush machine to create the watercolour-like shapes, whereas the colours at Collina Strada were hand-painted over each model's eye and brows.
Truc Nguyen is a Toronto-based writer, editor and stylist. Follow her at @trucnguyen.