The pandemic has completely changed the way we live and work. For the fashion industry the days of over crowded backstages and the hectic schedule of running from show to show during the hustle of fashion week, seems like a distant memory. My last show was Aliétte in February 2020 and I’ve not been backstage since. The familiar fashion week routine has been transformed and perhaps even for the better. Over the past year designers have found new ways to show their collections through Lookbooks, digital shows, or presentations with a small social distanced audience. For us there are a few benefits too, as Paris based makeup artist Selina Beutler says with “fewer people behind the scenes it allows us to breathe a little and to have space to work” and “this new way of presenting a collection by filming a show allows us to make mistakes. The error is less serious because we can start over.”
Givenchy like many brands produced a digital show for their latest collection. Gone are the days of the three hour call time typical of a runway show. A digital show is a much bigger production. The Givenchy Fall 2021 show was a 15 hour day says Beutler who was on the makeup team and goes on to say lead makeup artist Aaron de May designed the “bold eye look, a bit doll-like but still modern. False lashes, natural brows and natural lips, with a matte skin. For the boys it was a matte natural skin.”
Who knows if in the future we’ll return to doing shows like in pre-Covid times. Beutler like myself feels a sense of nostalgia for “when we ran everywhere and where we jostle. It’s an incredible adrenaline to be in the heat of the moment…I can’t wait to be able to return to a normal world where there are people everywhere! Even though I would have less room to put my makeup on!”
