PARIS — Natural beauty, begone.

That was the stance of an increasing variety of fashion designers and makeup artists, who created makeup looks for the recent Paris Men’s Fashion Week catwalks, after seasons of no-makeup-makeup on guys.

From the runways of Dior to Sulvam, Facetasm and Rains, more male models sported visible color cosmetics throughout the fall 2023 season that ended Sunday.

Largely, this rise syncs with the swell of genderless fashion collections being presented.

“Many of the shows focused on eye makeup, because while talking with each designer, I felt they were more comfortable having makeup on or around the attention, reasonably than on the lip or full makeup,” said makeup artist Kanako Yoshida.

Peter Philips, creative and image director of Christian Dior makeup, said he got down to make the male models look “more poetic, a bit dreamier. I used eye shadow in a really subtle way, but if you see a before-and-after — you see a difference.” 

Philips worked on the outer corner of models’ eyelids, using a dark brown eye shadow, then softly blended it out, moving downward. After, he added a little bit of dark color on the inner corner of the eyebrow to offer it a strength. 

“It gives more depth to the face,” said Philips, of the look. “It’s not alleged to be a makeup statement, because you then lose the poetic a part of it.” 

For her part, Yoshida infused makeup looks into the Sulvam, Facetasm, Kidill and Kiko Kostadinov men’s shows.

For Sulvam, Yoshida said that she wanted the colour cosmetics to be wearable on the road — with a twist, to spotlight each individual’s character ­— in step with the brand’s fashion for day by day.

Elongated wings stretched out from some models’ eyes, while white arcs were drawn over others’ lids.

“The gathering had many various elements and essentials, so I wanted to make use of just a few various kinds of makeup,” said Yoshida.

She echoed in some looks fabric textures utilized by designer Teppei Fujita. The sparkling tweed segued into sparkling eyelashes, for instance.

At Facetasm, designer Hiromichi Ochiai used a shiny color palette and made nostalgic references to childhood fantasies. Yoshida said she tried to respect that feeling through the makeup creation. One other reference was “Stay Gold,” by Stevie Wonder, with some fashion looks inspired by the sunrise.

“I targeting makeup techniques, reminiscent of mixing — with a gradation from pink to orange, purple and navy,” she said.

For Kidill, designer Hiroaki Sueyasu went back to the punk spirit of his early collections, and combined that with notions of skateboarding.

“I suggested a red-based smoky eye,” said Yoshida.

Over at Kiko Kostadinov, Yoshida drew graphic elements around male models’ peepers, reminiscent of gold-colored lines, looking like lashes under their bottom lids, or black squiggly lines.

For Rains, makeup artist Min Kim was inspired by the gathering’s concept of “on a regular basis superheroes.”

“I immediately considered the mystery of a hero and the masks that conceal those mysteries,” she said. “A picture of the attention mask began to seem in my mind, and that was fueled by the dark and dramatic [show] location of the Théâtre du Châtelet.”

Such makeup artists affirmed color cosmetics’ broad appeal.

“Makeup will not be a tool to categorize gender. It’s just very playful and fun, so I wanted to specific ‘wearability’ and ‘playfulness’ in respect to male models,” said Yoshida, who also created makeup looks for Junya Watanabe.

Makeup was also spotted at shows and presentations for brands including Feng Chen Wang, Arturo Obegero, Undercover and EgonLab.

Yoshida hopes the men-wearing-makeup trend spotted on the catwalks trickles down further to street level.

“Especially younger generations will get it,” she said.

“Makeup play has historically not been gender-specific, so it’s about time we’re revisiting the trend,” continued Kim. “I hope someday soon we are going to see everyone on the road confidentially showing off their favorite looks.”