Glancing at the runway from the FROW, it might appear to the untrained eye that the endless stream of models stomping around Dior's pop-up fashion arena complete with timely illuminated slogans of 'Consent' simply woke up like that. Bedecked in the fashion house's iconic bar jacket, silk monogrammed bandanas and heavy next day eyeliner the surprisingly grounded beauty look evoked an air of ease. In short - the opposite of try hard.
But, behind the artfully undone hair and make-up is actually an entire team backstage making the magic happen in an extremely tight turnaround. So, you'd be forgiven for thinking that pro make-up artists like Peter Philips who touts a seriously impressive title of Creative And Image Director of Christian Dior Makeup would be tempted to leave it to their trustworthy teams to transform the army of models waiting to hit the Paris Fashion Week runway. But you'd be wrong.
'I ended up doing every girl's make-up!,' Philips told ELLE backstage. 'There was maybe three I didn't touch - like 81 girls in total! So I've had it with eyeliner by now!'
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Philips is of course speaking of the trio of smudgy, grungey, 70s style black eyeliner looks he created for Maria Grazia Chiuri's Dior AW20 collection.
'Maria Grazia loves a good eyeliner - if you look at her own make-up its very strong. For this look she gave me key words as a starting point: strong, intellectual, seventies,' Philips explained.
'The three looks are all variations on kohl eyeliner. The first one is a totally contoured eye, the second one is under eyeliner and then the third is a half liner very much on the outside of the eye.
'We made them very raw, we didn't do sharp lines because we didn't want it to be too elegant or too 50s/60s. It has a blunter finish that's more horizontal so it feels like a more intellectual, feminist look. Once it becomes too precious, it looks too boudoir.'
The trick to nailing that literary eyeliner vibe? Double up the liner.
Shop Dior's AW20 Eyeliner Look
'I wanted a look that's a bit more worn and weathered but kohl on its own can fade so to guarantee it stayed I applied liquid eyeliner then went over the edges with a waterproof eye pencil to get rid of that sharpness.'
Over on hair, backstage legend Guido Palau echoed the unaffected feeling with monogrammed silk headscarves.
'They could be an actress in the 60s on vacation, or a biker in LA - the scarf feels cool and sophisticated and timeless,' Palau told ELLE backstage.
'Having the scarf over the forehead combined with hair blowdried with Redken Play Safe and tonged lightly to create texture feels very effortless and modern and with the make-up makes a very powerful woman.'
SHOP REDKEN EXTREME PLAY SAFE - £21.50
Every High Fashion Make-Up Look From Backstage At Fashion Week AW20
George Driver was the former Senior Beauty Editor - Digital at ELLE UK.
