Over 200 models and muses spent the day being prepped and primed to take to the Vogue World: Paris runway in the capital’s famous Place Vendôme. As you can imagine, there was plenty to take in when it came to the beauty looks, created by a triumphant trio of beauty aficionados: Dame Pat McGrath on make-up, Eugene Souleiman on hair and Eri Narita on nails. Here’s what you might have missed from behind the scenes of the third annual Vogue World event.
The lead nail artist wore Vogue-branded nails
Narita, who was behind the epic nails for the show, got into the mindset by creating her own, specially-designed manicure for the event. Decorating her nails with the words “Vogue World” and the colours of the French flag on the tips, Narita caused quite a stir backstage, along with the hundreds of press-on nails she designed using Bio Sculpture.
Pat McGrath led a small army of make-up artists
McGrath took a team of 63 artists to get over 200 models and muses ready for the runway. Working tirelessly all weekend to deliver the glamorous make-up looks – which differed for each decade – using pots and pots of McGrath’s Skin Fetish: Sublime Perfection Setting Powder and Skin Fetish: Sublime Perfection Blurring Under-Eye Powder, this small army of make-up artists deserve a medal.
Chrome hair clips were the accessory of choice
Take yourself back to the silver, shimmery wonder of the ’60s fencing section, where models had silver eyes – a bit like a superhero mask – while the hair was covered with dozens of clips. Backstage Souleiman told Vogue that he wanted to completely cover the model’s heads in chrome hair clips so that it felt like armour, in line with the fencing theme. The hair stylist used over 200 clips, along with 15 antenna-like headpieces, stitched into the hair to represent the bubble end of a fencing sword.
Naturally, there was plenty of product
A moment for the hair in numbers: it took 2,280 Bumble and Bumble styling products, over 60 Dyson hair tools and 60 hair stylists to create all the different looks for the show.
Wigs completed the beauty looks
Forty wigs were used by Souleiman and his team for the show, to help create the different looks for each of the decades. For the 1920s, flapper bobs dominated, while for the ’30s track and field section, there were short, wavy wigs. Meanwhile, for the ’70s gymnastics theme, Souleiman used two extra-long wigs and six Diana Ross-inspired disco wigs to complete the looks.