It was the first time Margiela had shown again at haute couture week since 2020 and John Galliano had been working on the collection for an entire year.
The inspiration came from the portraits that Brassaï had made during the 1920s and 1930s of the women who inhabited the most gruesome nights in Paris.
A scene that Galliano perfectly recreated under the Alexandre III bridge.
With dim lighting, full of chiaroscuro, he sat his guests on some rickety wooden benches and, once the atmosphere was created, the magic began.
Corsets, transparent dresses that left the female body on display, lingerie, ragged stockings and models with the faces of porcelain dolls, in the literal sense of the word.
John Galliano's show for Margiela drew praise from the specialized press and Pat McGrath starred in the viral moment of Paris haute couture with his science-fiction makeup.
In the opinion of the makeup artist Rubén Zamora, who in his professional circuit is known as Gato, this makeup managed to unite the designer's most vintage aesthetic past with today's artificial technology and helped make it clear that we were before a haute couture parade. and not before a play, "a more real skin, with pores and that revealed the excess makeup necessary to cover eyebrows and so on, would have tipped the balance more towards a more decadent aesthetic."
Admiration at the perfect theatrical makeup gave way to a mad search for answers when Internet users discovered that the models got rid of the makeup by pulling on a thin layer, as if it were a second skin.
The requests for McGrath to reveal the secret competed in the number of comments with the expressions of disbelief and admiration, “crazy,” said Amber Valletta;
“iconic.
I have only used this word twice in my life.
I think the first was with Beyoncé,” said Kate Perry;
“obsessed by the amount of speculation that this technique has provoked.
I'm looking forward to knowing how you did it," said Caroline Vreeland, representing the thousands of fans who have tried to replicate this viral makeup these days.
The first theory suggested that McGrath had used Liquid Glass, a vinyl polymer, marketed by the German brand Kryolan, which has sold out, and which is applied to the skin in several layers, allowing it to dry between each application.
A theory that would coincide with the images in which you can see how the makeup artist's team applies a liquid product using a sprayer.
However, it was Pat McGrath herself who responded to TikToker Niko Haagenson, one of the defenders of this theory, saying: “Incredible.
But soon we will show the product we use.
Stay tuned.”
For makeup artist Erin Parsons, who has worked with McGrath herself, the color of the product, “like Listerine,” and the way in which the models later removed the product from their faces, gave her the definitive clue and she believes she has discovered the secret.
According to her, the product that everyone is looking for is nothing more than a cucumber-based mask from the Freeman brand.
The key is, as she herself confirms, to dilute the product in water, apply it with a sprayer and dry between coats.
She says that she makes up to five applications and at the end shows the result, very similar to that of the Margiela show and then, like the models, she removes the layer of product like a vinyl.
Another theory points to the Natura Bissé Diamond Luminous Glowing Mask.
Katie Jane Hugues, makeup artist for celebrities like Hailey Bieber or Ashley Graham and who believes that this is the product used by McGrath, is based on the fact that the makeup artist knows the brand very well because she herself had sold him Natura Bissé products fifteen years ago, and because the mask also creates that shiny film effect on the skin.
However, the most likely theory is that the product used would be one developed by Pat McGrath herself.
“Everything will be revealed very soon,” the makeup artist herself wrote in an Instagram entry in which the models were seen removing the product from their skin in a loop.
“If it is a formula specially created by Pat for her future sale under her brand,” says makeup artist Gato, “it will have some progress to make it wearable.
Since the problem with latex, a probable ingredient in this formula, is that it does not allow you to gesture, so it would be impossible to wear it in everyday life without it wrinkling a lot when laughing, talking or making faces.
In this case, it could be a street trend that would go beyond the 'filter'-based makeup trends we've seen for a few years now, and go straight to looks that look like they were created by AI,” she reflects.
Judging by the madness unleashed on networks, very soon (as soon as the makeup artist reveals her secret), the streets could be filled with porcelain faces.