Catwalk Beauty Trend: Caribbean Colour

Catwalk Beauty Trend: Caribbean Colour

There’s a catwalk makeup trend jumping up this season that is so joyful and fun, you can’t help smiling when you see it. Fashion designers in Paris, Milan, New York and London have taken inspiration from Caribbean Festivals in Jamaica, Trinidad and South America to add a pop of fun to their ready-to-wear presentations. Makeup artists are embracing glitter, shine, appliques and sequins this season with abandon.

This is a makeup trend focused on the eyes with dramatic false lashes, glitter shadows and rhinestones. From vivid neon colours to intricate designs, makeup artists are designing theatre-worthy looks that are meant to generate millions of social media impressions.

The designer brand championing this trend most is Manish Aurora who tapped the Senior Artists at MAC to design the looks that wouldn’t look out of place in a Vegas show.

If you’ve ever visited Toronto’s Caribbean Festival Parade each August, you’ll know that oversized applique lashes are a key beauty accent. MAC played up this feature to beautiful effect.

Usually the lead makeup artist or “Key Artist” as they are referred to in the industry will meet with the designer a good week in advance of the fashion show to discuss inspiration and to view the entire fashion collection. Most top makeup artists will come with sketches, samples and colour stories. The fashion designer will usually include a top stylist and the group discusses the beauty look.

During London Fashion Week, House of Holland unveiled a glitter and sparkle-filled catwalk that played up vibrant purples and lime. The makeup artists picked a key shade from the outfit and designed the eye makeup look to complement it.

What gives these eye makeup looks depth is the use of two different shades. You’ll notice the lime green shadow has a little yellow added for definition. The lips and complexion are kept quite bare to keep the focus on the eyes.

At the Giambattista Valli show, exotic orchids and flowers were used as beauty accents.

Flower petals were twisted and molded to accent the eyes and complexion in a beautiful way at Giambattista Valli.

During Paris Fashion Week, Valentino dazzled with opulent gold appliques.

Makeup artists treated the eye makeup design as jewellery winding gold appliques across the browbone and over the lid.

New York fashion designer Anna Sui can be credited for bringing back vibrant catwalk makeup. She’s embraced purple, red, pink and a kaleidoscope of hues on her catwalks.

What is great about this trend is it allows you to go as far as you are comfortable with. Go full-on for a night out or simply add a pop of colour on your nails. The theme is “fun” and your makeup should give you joy.

Even refined fashion brand Prabal Gurung embraced this trend by created lavish floral hats for models to wear.

Expect to see more of this vibrant beauty trend throughout all of 2020. It’s a major theme this year.