This Paris Fashion Week, in the closing look for Schiaparelli’s ready-to-wear SS24 collection by designer Daniel Roseberry, Kendall Jenner proved the red manicure is as hot as ever – not that her hands played a part in it. Walking the runway, her strapless dress – fully embroidered with bright red fingernails – stole the show.
As shown in a behind-the-scenes clip shared on Schiaparelli’s Instagram, the nail-mail dress was made up of hundreds of almond-shaped fake nails, glistening with sequins punctuating spaces between them. And the beauty-as-fashion didn’t end there; the dress was paired with nude leather pumps with ‘toes’ similarly described as “trompe l’œil”, in that they presented a realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface.
Equally alluring was the model’s gravity-defying bouffant. Styled by high fashion’s favourite hair sculptor, Guido Palau, her brunette locks were teased all over for serious inflation. In contrast, Jenner’s make-up was low-key – because (as with her natural nails adjacent to the manicure dress) the line between good and bad taste in beauty is straddled by balance.
This balancing act was also seen on another model at Schiaparelli whose face and décolleté was completely covered in clear crystals, while her hair was subtly styled and her dress – beyond the halter neckline – was classical.
The avant-garde make-up was the work of the legendary Pat McGrath and her team, who spent four-and-a-half hours curating the beauty look coined “falling crystals” (watch below).
It’s not the first time McGrath and Schiaparelli have collaborated on show-stopping crystal looks. For the label’s spring 2023 couture show, the make-up artist adorned attendee Doja Cat in 30 thousand crystals for the ultimate visual spectacle.
