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Amidst a shining sea of 120,000 LED lightbulbs on a roundabout mirrored runway, designer Alessandro Michele presented his latest Gucci collection today in Milan. In his vision of the freaky future, one might wear a bronze eagle headpiece with a sequin-embroidered wool coat or a sharp spiked mask with a frilly Victorian lace blouse. Or, if makeup artist Thomas de Kluyver—who made his Gucci debut at today’s show and was spotlighted as one to watch in Vogue’s March issue—has anything to say about it, one might be so inclined to pair bleached brows with hair-raising color contact lenses or punctuate a bare complexion with crystalized tears trickling down cheeks. Here, six hair and makeup lessons straight from Gucci’s fall show.
Metallic Gold Ears Are a Retro-Futurist’s Dream
Hair accessories may be everywhere, but Michele was laser-focused on the ears. According to @amagazinecuratedby, the collection’s spate of gilded ear pieces was inspired by an iconic Richard Avedon–lensed portrait of Marisa Berenson wearing Argentinian artist Eduardo Costa’s 24-karat Fashion Fiction I sculpture. Sure to be among the Italian brand’s latest It accessories, if you can’t wait to get your hands on them, you can always go DIY with a paint brush and tin of gold paint.
Faux Tears—Always—Dry on Their Own
If you’re going to shed tears, they may as well be Gucci. An above-the-neck statement made for the man or woman who wears their emotions on their sleeve (or down their face), many of the models, including wide-eyed American beauty Ellia Sophia, wore four prosthetic drops under each eye in cartoonish fashion.
A David Bowie Mullet Is Always a Good Idea
At Michele’s last fall showing, model Lina Hoss took the runway in a copper feather-cut wig reminiscent of David Bowie’s famous flame-red coif. And this season, hairstylist Paul Hanlon opted to go full-on Ziggy Stardust when he cut and dyed the platinum lengths of newcomer Flo Hutchings, who made her debut on Gucci’s runway with a burnt orange mullet that looked as if it was plucked from the rock ’n’ roller’s “Life on Mars?” music video. Paying homage to Bowie season after season, Michele’s message is clear: Channeling the late icon above the neck, whether temporarily or permanently, will never steer you wrong.
Coordinating Brows With Color Contacts Is Essential
As evidenced by Richard Quinn’s spring show, de Kluyver has a thing for eerie-colored contacts. So, it was a surprise to no one when similar off-kilter gazes found their way into Michele’s world. Playing off the oxidized hue of Hutchings’s coif, her brows were not only dyed to match, but de Kluyver swapped out her icy blue gaze in favor of a supernatural lime-green one. And then there was New York City–based model Sara Hiromi, who had her signature bleached arches offset with jet-black lenses to haunting-your-dreams-tonight effect.
Antique Hairbrushes Are Making a Comeback
. . . And not just for utility or decorating one’s vanity. While wafting down the runway, Sophia carried her antique silver brush with chunky white sneakers by the shoestrings, while another model did so with a top-handle patent leather bag. With its ornate engraved detail, the grooming essential is as beautiful as any other bauble in Gucci’s repertoire—why not tote it around town?
Fresh Complexions Marry Well With Freaky Accents
This season’s girl has enough to worry about, what with having to put her tears on and lenses in on top of stacking a dizzying array of elaborate masks, chokers, ear cuffs, and knee pads. There is simply no time for directional eyes, lips, and cheeks. Besides, a starkly bare complexion is far more suitable to Gucci’s strange, high-impact statements anyway.
