It’s day two of Paris Haute Couture Week, and Pierpaolo Piccioli put on a stunning show we’ll be thinking about well into the evening. The Valentino Haute Couture SS21 collection, named “Code Temporal,” was unveiled at the breathtakingly beautiful Galleria Colonna, Sala Grande, in Rome. The Italian luxury fashion house revealed the collection digitally on Tuesday, January 26, at 9 am EST. Pairing perfectly with the label’s opulent garments were models wearing statement gold glam—the maximalist makeup movement we’ve been waiting for this season.
The show’s glam was brought to life by two fashion industry icons: celebrity makeup artist and newly appointed Dame, Pat McGrath and the fashion industry’s favorite hairstylist Guido Palau. These two are no strangers to conceptualizing beauty looks in tandem. They’ve also worked together for Burberry, Christian Dior, Marc Jacobs—the list continues. The fashion house describes the collection as, “the craft and emotionality of Couture, recoded into vibrant simplicity.” Together, McGrath and Palau make this a reality.
For the Valentino Haute Couture SS21 show, McGrath dreamed up two beauty looks. The first is fiercely editorial: a full face of gold glitter, reminiscent of the high-drama all-silver look from the label’s 2019 haute couture show. The second is more wearable: exaggerated highlighter using that same sparkly gold pigment painted onto models’ temples. On her Instagram feed, the pro aptly called this makeup look “a touch of glitter.” At the time of publishing, 1 pm EST on January 26, the makeup artist has yet to reveal what glitter product she used to create the sparkle, but our guess is that she used Metalmorphosis 005 in gold.
Click through the gallery below to see some of the best backstage makeup moments from behind-the-scenes of the Valentino Haute Couture SS21 show.
As for hair, long lengths dominated the runway. Palau gave some models a sleek and shiny waist-length style and gave textured-haired models equally as long braids. The final result was a hairstyle that fused simplicity and natural beauty with timeless elegance. Ahead, we’ve compiled photos from the Valentino Haute Couture SS21 fashion show, snapped backstage and on the runway. Likewise, short-haired models embraced long bowl cuts with freshly trimmed blunt ends. Those with close-cropped styles wore their hair natural yet groomed.
In the rare case that you haven’t experienced the Valentino Haute Couture SS21 fashion show in full just yet, press “play” on the video below.
