.jpg)
For Miuccia Prada, strength and femininity have always been inextricably linked. At today’s Prada show inside Fondazione Prada, where the grand hall of Deposito had been transformed into a set of imaginary piazzas, the designer told this season’s story by honing in on “tools of glamour [and] uniforms of beauty,” through a decidedly futuristic lens.
“It’s a little cyber,” said Pat McGrath backstage. “Modern, but at the same time, in a classic way.” The focal point of the makeup looks were the iridescent, square-shaped shocks of color across the brow bones, done in gradients of black, chartreuse, and ruby red to evoke a feeling of “pigment in motion,” explained McGrath, who wouldn’t divulge exactly what she used on the eyes—not yet, at least. At the request of Mrs. Prada, the graphic eyes were offset by making everything else virtually “undetectable” with groomed brows, mascara at the root of the lashes only, and lit-from-within complexions. “She wanted the girls to be done matte, but with a little bit of the glow,” she said, prepping each face with a sheer veil of foundation before gliding her new Sublime Perfection Concealer under the eyes and tapping Skin Fetish Highlighter & Balm onto the lips and cheekbones.
Like McGrath, hairstylist Guido Palau looked forward—inspired by the concept of “computer-generated hair” as he dreamed up the show’s array of swooped back, ultra-blunt styles. “I’ve taken out all the layers, so it’s really like one length of hair—it’s quite severe,” he explained, adding that he and his team began applying extensions the night before in preparation for the show. Once lengths were extended, Palau brushed the hair back with Redken No Blow Dry Hair Cream before going in with a flat iron and shearing the ends blunt for a stick-straight “linear” effect. “It’s a lot of work to make hair look this severely simple,” he said, pausing for a moment. “But there’s a strange normality to it, which is very Prada.” For a select set of models, the final touch was a sleek, crownlike metal headband, emblazoned with Prada’s triangle logo plate cast in gold, silver, or crimson. An It accessory in the making, no doubt.
Ahead of first looks, McGrath stood before Gigi Hadid, her sci-fi aureate crown and scarlet stripes of pigment gleaming above her knit gray overcoat and powder blue ruffle top in cool contrast. ” You see?” posed McGrath. “A cyber princess!”