The jury’s still out on the “cultural appropriation” of Kaiser Karl’s retinue of romping Chanel cowgirls and Indians, but what we can most certainly endorse is the gorgeously inventive, highly “editorial” swatches of precious paint gilded on the girls’ faces.
The backstage budget for Chanel’s Metiers D’Arts Pre-fall 2014 show must have been astronomical – all 47 models, cherry-picked from across the globe and flown into the specially decked out barn at Dallas’ Fair Park, were sent down the straw-strewn runway with hand-swirled gold and platinum powders.
Here’s how to recreate the look, sans ground precious metallic pigments, of course. First, Chanel's maquillage masters prepped the girls’ skin with the French fashion house’s sumptuous Hydra Beauty skincare range.
For beauty observers, the Chanel show was as much a fashion presentation as it was a thrilling preview of skin things to come. After priming the face, the backstage team veiled imperfections with Chanel’s Perfection Lumière Velvet, a new foundation slated for a July 2014 release in Singapore. Skipping blush entirely, the face was set with a dusting of Poudre Universelle.
Eyes were kept relatively nude, with just a sweeping of sandy browns from the Les 4 Ombres Tissé Gabrielle palette, also set for a July 2014 release. A sexy swoosh of inky liner was drawn across the lid using Stylo Yeux in Noir Intense (N°88), then played up further with jagged, deliberately spidery lashings of Mascara Le Volume de Chanel in black (N°10).
Now for the fun bit. The warring factions of cowgirls and Indians were “scarred” with quite possibly the most expensive warpaint yet. Interesting aside: We hear that the makeup team's inspiration for the gorgeously cruel cross-hatched strokes slashing the pretty mugs of the models stemmed from a swatch of textured leather passed to them from Karl himself.
To nail the pattern, Chanel went with a custom emulsion created by swirling gold and platinum powders into a gel-like professional makeup medium. The precision application – note the sharp-as-glass lines intersecting each other on the cheeks and temples – was achieved by using Chanel’s iconic N°7 foundation brush, which itself was modified by carefully trimming the bristles.
The result? Unforgettably beautiful wounds – an allusion to the forgotten persecution of Native Americans, perhaps? – that also brought to mind Coco Chanel’s beloved tweed. Genius!
For more information about Chanel, go to www.chanel.com/en_SG/. Follow Chanel on Twitter and Facebook. The Chanel boutiques in Singapore are located at L1-59 and B1-135, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands and #01-25-27 and #02-12M/N/T, Ngee Ann City.