On a rainy night at the New York City Public Library, Tom Pecheux painted a sea of red lips backstage at Oscar de la Renta. Armed with a handful of MAC Cosmetics sticks and glosses, Pecheux used a shade of universally flattering orange red on every single model that walked in the NYFW FW2020 collection. “This season is different,” Pecheux explained, before continuing, “In the past I’ve worked on diverse beauty looks – one blue eye, one green, one pink lip. This season we have a mix of models but one universal beauty look… It’s not right or wrong, but it’s wonderful.”
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A makeup artist might consider it their prerogative to match a shade of red to a model’s skin tone, but Pecheux mixed and mixed until he felt he’d struck the holy grail: a fiery orange red coated in high-shine gloss. Having been on the ground, GRAZIA can confirm he was absolutely correct.
The remainder of the look was young, fun, and beautiful, to use Chepeux’s words. Flawless skin, “perfect” brows and a subtle gloss on the eye. Heaven.
Beneath the makeup, skin was prepped by 111Skin – specifically the Rose Gold Illuminating Eye Mask and Rose Gold Brightening Sheet Masks. Loaded with hydrating and brightening ingredients, both are perfect to pep up model skin after a slew of back-to-back shows, late nights, and early mornings.
The entire collection was, serendipitously inspired by the 1797 poem, The Sorcerer’s Apprenctice, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, otherwise knows as the inception for the Disney classic, Fantasia. It was the embodiment of a magical evening and the fleeting allure of moments that only come around once in a lifetime – a remarkable coincidence, given de la Renta’s show took place in the dimly lit NYC Public Library after dark. A magic moment if there ever was one.
In summation, the show was a mix of classics – of the literary and beauty variety – taking place in a building that holds all of the classics. Bella Hadid closing the show in a feathered red cape was the wonderful cherry on top of an incredible show. Universal red, universal appeal.
