At Marc Jacobs, Maximalist—And Totally Individual—Beauty Lives Its Best Life

“It’s Marc’s idea of street life,” said Guido Palau backstage at Marc Jacobs. “It’s not reality, it’s his reality.” As if there were any lingering doubts, the designer’s world is one that indulges pure fantasy at every inch.

Ahead of tonight’s show inside the Park Avenue Armory, Palau and makeup artist Pat McGrath had their work cut out for them, creating nearly 60 highly individual beauty looks to complement the designer’s parade of cool suiting, ruffled blouses, and floaty organza confections. “It’s a cast of individual characters, some from another era, some from today,” said Palau, who showcased a decade-spanning array of hairstyles. See: Fei Fei Sun’s curvilinear bowl cut, Tessa Bruinsma’s side-swept ‘80s spirals, Issa Alien’s ribbon-tied pigtails, and Hiandra Martinez’s buoyant half-up afro.

Enchantingly and intentionally, many of Jacobs’s characters were instantly recognizable. “I love Marilyn, she’s just a woman, through and through—curves, hair, lips, all of it!” exclaimed West Virginia native Joel Wolfe as Palue transformed him into the Hollywood bombshell with platinum waves set in clouds of Redken’s Triple Take 32 Extreme High-Hold Hairspray. Other riffs on icons of the past included an ode to Jane Fonda, model Scarlett Costello receiving the same “radical” shag the actor wore in her Oscar-winning role in 1971’s Klute, while Vaughan Ollier channeled Shelley Duvall with full, spidery lashes that extended up and out to theatrical effect.

“It’s an idealized interpretation of real life,” said McGrath, who was thrilled to have the ultimate excuse to “dig into her old couture [show] bags” to source glitter, paints, pearls, rhinestones, and holographic foils for the vast amount of high-impact makeup looks. “When you think about [wearing] a lot of makeup, you think it’s quite old-fashioned,” she explained. “What’s great is taking looks that come from the past, but modernizing them,” said McGrath while using a Marc Jacobs Beauty Highliner Matte Gel Eye Crayon in antique teal Whirl(Pool) to draw dramatic wings, studding them with delicate gems as a final flourish. In that spirit, there were a flurry of ‘70s glitter eyes, many of which were applied haphazardly, not unlike the shimmering tears seen on Euphoria, ‘80s-bright graphic lids, and Art Nouveau–ish crystal designs speckled all over the face. “It’s street style in the most maximal way!” beamed McGrath.

The attention to detail above the neck was nothing short of staggering, especially considering the unprecedented volume of looks. But Palau shrugged it off—underlining that it’s simply par for the course at a Marc Jacobs show. “Even when there’s hats, Marc wants to know what’s underneath [them],” he laughed. “He’s one of those designers where it’s all about the feeling and these very specific characters. To Marc, it’s all about the minutiae.”