Dior’s Fresh-Faced Runway Makeup For A New Era

Spring is often associated with new beginnings. For Dior, the season is the start of a new era. On Oct. 1, creative director Jonathan Anderson debuted his first womenswear collection for the house, an homage to his Dior predecessors (Galliano! Yves Saint Laurent!) with a touch of the Irish designer’s now-signature whimsical silhouettes that helped turn Loewe into a cult-favorite brand. A new designer also means a directional shift in Dior’s runway beauty looks, a task that excited Peter Philips, Creative and Image Director of Christian Dior Makeup.

“We met up in early September and Jonathan gave me a file he made of all of the work I had done for shows and editorials over the last 25-30 years, from the very extreme to very natural,” Philips said during a Zoom interview from backstage at the show. “So we started talking about looks and his vision and my vision. It’s almost like a first date, where we get to know each other and we see where we go from here.”

As Philips and lead hairstylist Guido Palau started to see some of the looks and got more details about the actual show, it was clear that more natural makeup and hair were the way to go. “We saw the show concept, which was kind of harsh with the pyramid and the video collage of all of the archive images combined with horror movie with aggressive cuts and sounds. Any bolder look would become a dramatized thing and that’s something we didn’t want to do,” Philips says. “At Dior we’re known for red lipstick, but if a red lipstick doesn’t make the look cool, it also means that the look makes the red lipstick uncool.”

So Philips gave models fresh-faced complexions with “blossoming blush.” He started by prepping the skin with Dior’s Capture Totale Serum and Moisturizer, then applied the Forever Skin Glow Foundation in thin layers, just enough to cover any redness, and the Forever Skin Correct Concealer was used to mask any blemishes. Philips then added the Dior Backstage Rosy Glow Blush Stick in Rosewood or Berry to the cheeks, blending the blush with the foundation, so it became “like a veil of color.”

The eyes were kept simple. He skipped mascara, instead curling the lashes and adding the darkest color of the Diorshow 5 Couleurs Palette in Poncho to the roots of the lashes to make them a bit more intense. On the lips, Philips dabbed a bit of the Dior Addict Lip Glow Butter in Toffee so they were “plump and hydrated.”

“When the video was done and the show started, it was like a fresh page. I think that’s what we succeeded with this look and that was the goal,” Philips says. “It’s spring. Winter is done, let’s wait for the flowers to bloom.”