Backstage at Marc Jacobs, 61 Kinds of Beautiful
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"I've been thinking a lot about icons," said Guido Palau backstage at the Marc Jacobs spring 2020 show. He'd made 61 hair looks, all of them different, all of them (hopefully) iconic. "We don't actually know Marilyn Monroe," he continued, "But we feel like we do, because we’ve bought into her imagery. I think when we believe people are comfortable and powerful in their skin and their style, that’s what makes us love them... Of course, we know now that Marilyn wasn't secure. But we believed her [confidence] for so long."
Once upon a time—Marilyn's time—we also believed beauty was a one-way street. We needed the perfect blowout. We needed the perfect red lip. "The old idea of beauty is what’s right," said Guido. "We need to stop asking what's right. There's no such thing as the ultimate beauty. Especially for Marc, there's only whatever beauty you choose to be."
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On Wednesday night's runway, that translated to everything from a rockabilly half-hawk (on Hiandra Martinez) to Harajuku-inspired streamers (on Issa Lish). Gigi Hadid got stewardess waves and a sky-blue cap to match, while Montana native Delilah Koch's long, fine hair was chopped to above-the-chin flapper territory. ("It was time," said the teen with a sage nod.)
The looks were all different, but one thing remained constant: Redken Triple Pure 32 Hairspray, a giant can of newness that holds pretty much anything (even my curls in the rain; I've tried) and smells like nothing, not even normal hairspray fumes.
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Further back in the makeup section, Pat McGrath put all 82 Marc Jacobs Beauty products to work, along with loose glitter, gold leaf, and piles of rhinestones, which McGrath recommends affixing to your face with a dot of lash glue. "What’s fantastic is that there’s all kinds of beauty," she explained. "There's a smoky eye. There's a modern take on Jane Fonda in Klute. And then this healthy, gorgeous, beautiful being here," she laughed, pointing to Danish blonde Olivia Vinten, "with warm-toned eyeshadows and brushed brows. And we're trying to keep weight off the lips for most of the girls and boys, so we're using lots of gloss. No fear was basically our mantra!"
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By the time "Dream a Little Dream" blared from the show speakers and 21-year-old California girl Scarlett Costello closed the show, "no fear" went from mantra to mandate, at least to Zendaya, Dua Lipa, and the rest of the audience lucky enough to see all 61 original "characters" IRL on the catwalk.
PS: For those keeping track, the beauty look of Marilyn Monroe did indeed make an appearance on the catwalk, as embodied by the Insta-beloved male model Joel Wolfe.
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