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The Simple Trick to Getting Rodarte's Symmetrical, Ultra-Sharp Eyeliner Look

Makeup artist James Kaliardos relied on it to create the “goth fairytale”-inspired makeup for the brand’s Fall 2023 show.

Rodarte’s runway show is always a reliable highlight of fashion week for many reasons: its star-studded front row, whimsical themes, charming designs and — for those who cover backstage beauty — fantastical, memorable, artful hair and makeup looks. The Mulleavy sisters’ Fall 2023 show was no exception. Inspired by a “gothic fairytale,” the presentation featured ornate headpieces, literal fairy wings and a bold beauty look that channeled Anjelica Huston’s Morticia Addams and included six different graphic black eyeliner looks.

“We are doing gothic fairies — more gothic than fairy — for this show. We really wanted to do strong and bold makeup [with] linear eyeliner,” said makeup artist James Kaliardos (for Nars), who created the look, backstage. 

On the runway at Rodarte Fall 2023.

Photo: Imaxtree

Because getting perfectly even, precise, so-sharp-they-could-cut-you wings was so crucial to the eye makeup, Kaliardos and the Nars team employed a simple trick to help them execute it: sketching the liner shape lightly with a brow pencil to create a guide before tracing over it with black liquid liner (specifically Nars Climax Liquid Eyeliner). 

“I’ve never done that — I’ve always free-handed every eyeliner look I’ve ever done, so I was kind of like, ‘Oh, I didn’t even know you could do that,’ but it makes sense,” said Kaliardos, who calls this technique “really helpful” in a backstage setting. But it’s also a useful tip for those of us who aren’t professional makeup artists and struggle with getting our eyeliner wings to match, even if they’re not quite as bold as Rodarte‘s version. The other reason pre-sketching the eye-makeup shape ahead of time can come in handy?

“People are usually asymmetrical, so getting the balance right, sometimes you have to adjust and all of that,” explained Kaliardos.

Despite the mega-impact and what can only be described as a truly dramatic amount of black liquid eyeliner, the look is one Kaliardos is convinced has broader appeal for real-life wear off the runway: “It’s all really about this black eyeliner shape. I think it’s something girls really secretly want to wear…. A lot of girls I know really want a look like this, so it’s not totally costume-y or fantasy.”

Kaliardos paired the graphic eyeliner with matte black or blue lipstick, depending on the model, and plenty of coats of Nars Climax Mascara.

On the runway at Rodarte Fall 2023.

Photo: Fernanda Calfat/Getty Images for NYFW: The Shows

To accompany the makeup, Odile Gilbert (for TreSemmé) drew inspiration from the aforementioned Anjelica Huston character, focusing on shiny, straight hair with middle parts. “[The Mulleavy sisters] wanted a center part — they sent me a picture of the family of Anjelica Huston in [“The Addams Family”]. But we wanted to make it modern, so it’s more flat,” said Gilbert. She and her team also added small braids along models’ hairlines for a bit more of a fairy-like touch.

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Source: Fashionista.com

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