6 Ways To Make The Supernatural Beauty Trend Work For You – British Vogue

From New York to Paris, the autumn/winter 2020 shows were rife with theatrical post-apocalyptic imagery: from demonic contact lenses and claw-like nails to poisonous berry lips and sumptuously gothic shades of black. Think 70s Hammer horror, but make it fashion.

Recalling iconic characters from the world of horror such as Vampira, Elvira (Mistress of the Dark), and Mina Harker from Bram Stokers Dracula, these supernatural looks offer a healthy dose of fantasy and escapism that the world is craving right now. So, for just a moment, why not forget the horrors of today and have some fun with these six ghoulish trends.

Theres a particular trope in horror films and TV shows where a characters eyes change colour to signify the presence of evil. It happens in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Stranger Things and Game of Thrones. And it was there at the Balenciaga autumn/winter 2020 show where Demna Gvasalia sent models down the runway wearing sinister blacked-out contact lenses. Charlotte Knowles also took a leaf out of horror-movie history and sent her models out with demonic-looking red lids.

Charlotte Knowles

Photography GoRunway

The shade of night, witchcraft and all things gothic, black make-up has always had connotations of the sinister and at the shows this season it was no different. Vampiric black nails at Valentino, ominous charcoal-smudged lips at Yohji Yamamoto and Mugler, lashings of kohl liner at Max Mara and Dior, and, perhaps the most disconcerting, mascara-tear-stained cheeks at Gucci, which had an air of Pennywise (the dancing clown from Stephen Kings It) about them.

Gucci

Photography GoRunway

There was something menacing about the wet look at the autumn/winter 2020 shows. Once associated with sportiness or an air of city chic, here there were darker undertones. Take Marni, for example, where hair was slicked down onto the face, coloured swamp-like brown or green and covered in slime-like glitter. Rick Owens slicked back the hair to reveal elfin ears or scraped it back to reveal troll-like tails. Yohji Yamamoto, meanwhile, loved his witchy fringe extensions reminiscent of Winona Ryder in Beetlejuice. A similar motif was adopted at Haider Ackermann, although here hair was pulled back into large bulbous shapes.

Rick Owens

Photography GoRunway

Rodarte

Photography Jamie Stoker

Staged in a 19th-century New York church, Rodartes autumn/winter 2020 show was a love letter to gothic literature, in particular Bram Stokers 1897 novel Dracula, as reimagined in Francis Ford Coppolas 1992 film. Its Winona [Ryder] in Dracula, make-up artist James Kaliardos told American Vogue of his inspiration for the look. Think porcelain skin, delicate lash extensions and deep berry lips. Berry red also popped up at Fendi, and at Anna Sui, where vampiric-looking models recalled the gothic glamour of femmes fatales Elvira, Vampira and Morticia Addams.

Anna Sui

Photography Jamie Stoker

As part of Rodartes gothic romance, nails were worn long, filed into a stiletto point and finished in a Bordeaux lacquer. Elsewhere, OnOff and Ashish opted for sharp points and vampy-red lacquer; Mugler and Valentino went for midnight black, while Balenciaga loved claw-like nails with a black base and red tips very Dark Lord of the Sith.

Balenciaga

Photography GoRunway

With their bleached brows and washed-out complexions, it was as though the models at Haider Ackermann had seen a ghost. Or maybe they were the ghost.

Haider Ackermann

Photography GoRunway

It was a similar story at Gucci, Valentino, Yohji Yamamoto and Rodarte, where sickly-Victorian-child-meets-bride-of-Dracula was most definitely the mood.

Valentino

Photography GoRunway

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6 Ways To Make The Supernatural Beauty Trend Work For You - British Vogue