LUX Beauty: Couture Fall 2012 Runway Beauty Trend Recap

Aug 7, 2012
Marisa Machak • Beauty

Couture runway shows never cease to amaze fashionistas with each designer’s extraordinary collection of fabulous gowns. But the apparel wasn’t the only thing to stand out during this Couture Fall 2012 Fashion Week. LadyLUX gives you seven glamorous beauty trends within the Couture Week collections by Giambattista Valli, Chanel, Armani Privé, Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian Dior, Valentino and Givenchy. These beauty trends should certainly be incorporated into your beauty routine for this coming fall season.

Mauve Lips

A popular beauty trend seen in multiple collections including the Chanel, Armani Privé and Valentino runway collections was a mauve lip. The faint pinky-purple hue of mauve works well with any skin tone, can be worn as a neutral during the day and enhances the natural color of lips. Models wore several mauve colors with shimmering and slick effects of metallic flakes and gloss. It is safe to say that this is the new lip color of the coming fall season!

Brown & Copper Eyes

Smoky eyes created with brown, rose gold and copper eye shadows were an intense beauty trend seen on the runway. Complimenting any eye color, metallic copper eye shadows with both sheer and heavy color washes glimmered while light brown eye shadows were kept smoky yet subtle like in Valentino’s runway collection. Metallic shadows were applied all the way to the lash line for a light wash of copper and paired with thick black eyeliner for a more glamorous look. For an extra touch of sparkle, a dab of rose gold shadow was applied to the inner corners of the eyes. To keep all eyes on the shadows, clear and nude gloss was applied to models’ lips.

Heavy & Dramatic Eyeliner

The Christian Dior and Jean Paul Gaultier Couture collections boasted super bright and intensely dark eyeliner shapes and colors. The Christian Dior show displayed vivid eyeliner colors of electric blue, lime and fuchsia with matching mascaras. These wild lines were applied over metallic silver shadow for a fresh and new trend. While Dior kept eyes bright with a high saturation of color, the Jean Paul Gaultier collection was much more dramatic with the thick, dark eyeliners in black and charcoal drawn on the upper and lower lash lines and also in the crease. This bold-eyed look was paired with deep smoky eye shadows, heavily applied mascara and finished off with fire red lips reminiscent of the roaring ‘20s.

Silver Eyes

Sparkling silver and gunmetal eye shadows made an appearance on the runway during the Chanel, Armani Privé and Christian Dior Couture shows. Graphic silver shades of titanium and metallic grey cream shadows dramatically blended out toward the temples and up to the eyebrows. Thin black eye liner was added to both upper and lower lash lines for subtle definition. Sci-fi-like silver eyes even made an appearance in the Giambattista Valli collection with silver glitter eye shadows caked on the entire lids with an almost messy effect.

Couture Lips

Aside from the new favorite mauve lip color, dramatically drawn couture lips made a big statement on the runway in the Jean Paul Gaultier and Christian Dior shows. Painted to perfection, lips were drawn on with a brush and lined for extra shape. When lined, makeup artists exaggerated lip curves to emphasize the Cupid’s bow shape. Lip finishes included a rich velvety and matte look in shades of blood red, classic red, wine and orange red with a tinge of pink for some punch.

Theatrical Accessories

Some of the more memorable beauty trends seen within fall Couture collections were theatrical accessories. Adding to the costume-like look of the intricate gowns, hair and facial accessories glamourized the apparel even further. The models of the Chanel show wore their hair in rhinestone hair-nets and let their front and side bangs hang down for a casual, yet polished style. Black and silver patent leather headbands and thin black hair-nets were sported by Jean Paul Gaultier models, Giambattista Valli incorporated facial nets with brightly colored green and blue butterflies while Armani Privé models wore sheer balck veils with beads and sequins over their heads. These theatrical accessories emphasized the makeup trends and the models’ beauty while adding to each collection’s expression of couture.

Twisted Up-Dos

Various Couture collections featured ultra-feminine and girly up-dos that beautifully guided eyes to the apparel and yet still to the hair styles. The Giambattista Valli collection presented models with their hair parted down the middle and slicked back into a French twist. Valentino chose hair slicked back, super high and super tight twisted top knot buns directly on top of the crown. Wispy hairs came undone in front of the ears for a modern and softer look. Givenchy’s version of the twisted bun was styled low at the nape of the neck.