Hair and make-up at Yohji Yamamoto Fall 2019

When Yohji Yamamoto stages his semi-annual women’s runway show in Paris, the result straddles familiarity and unpredictability. A nearly all-black collection? Check. Signature abundant asymmetry and draping that never grows tiresome or out-of-season? Check.

What, then, can complement such complicated yet monochromatic mastery? The answer would be an equally intricate approach to the hair and make-up styling for the show, which began more than four hours prior to the scheduled start. The directives for the make-up:

SKIN – Beautiful. (That was the only word written.)

EYES – Black pencil on eyelash line, top and bottom lightly, and blend out.

A make-up artist works on a model’s eyelids backstage at the Yohji Yamamoto Fall 2019 show in Paris. (photo by Yuan-Kwan Chan / Meniscus Magazine)

EYEBROWS – Draw the line with CL-25 Steel Gray (Ben Nye).

The lines are drawn at the Yohji Yamamoto Fall 2019 show in Paris. (photo by Yuan-Kwan Chan / Meniscus Magazine)

CHEEKS – Pure white (MAC Paintstick) and wipe off with baby wipe

Backstage at the Yohji Yamamoto Fall 2019 show in Paris. (photo by Yuan-Kwan Chan / Meniscus Magazine)

LIPS – Mix Cadaver Gray (Ben Nye), Death Blue Gray (Ben Nye), CL-25 steel gray (Ben Nye), and wipe off with baby wipe

Coloring for the lips required a combination of three different types of Ben Nye stage make-up products, painstaking applied with a lip brush in order to achieve a deep dark blue. (photo by Yuan-Kwan Chan / Meniscus Magazine)

Hairstyling proved to be more time-consuming, with various multi-colored threads (white, blue, black, gray) knotted and threaded into place, and held together with Wella Professionals products. Each model required two stylists.

Backstage at the Yohji Yamamoto Fall 2019 show in Paris. (photo by Yuan-Kwan Chan / Meniscus Magazine)

In a rare pre-show move for a designer, Yamamoto headed over to the backstage beauty area – which was separate from the changing space at the Grand Palais – to check on preparations. He gave a thumbs-up to and shook the hand of one of the stylists.

Yohji Yamamoto stands behind a model in the backstage beauty area prior to his Fall 2019 runway show in Paris. (photo by Yuan-Kwan Chan / Meniscus Magazine)

Videos: Pre-show backstage hair and make-up, Yohji Yamamoto Fall 2019 – Paris Fashion Week
all videos by Yuan-Kwan Chan / Meniscus Magazine