Photos by Gilles Demarque de Rieux GD2R / www.gd2r.com using Leica
Beauty by Antonia Rosa and team with Clarins
Hair by Cláudio Pacheco and team at Chiado Studio with L´Oréal Professionnel Paris
Words and interviews by Guido Avelino and Fernanda Fernanda Russomano
Today at the start of ModaLisboa CORE, 60th edition AW23, we are looking back six months.
Enchanted by the beauty and the fashion of Lidija Kolovrat, and now with the news that KOLOVRAT will not be presenting at this edition of ModaLisboa, we’re taking a second look at her SS23 collection.
ZOOT beauty editor Antonia Rosa has been running the backstage team at Moda Lisboa since the first one 1991, and her make-up design for the Kolovrat show was the one that struck us most last edition. Gilles Demarque de Rieux, Luxembourg photographer currently based in Portugal, went backstage exclusively for ZOOT to capture the mood and these flawless looks.
We also spoke to Antonia and to Lidija about their inspiration.
ZOOT: The hairstyles and the models were very dramatic. What was the inspiration behind this punk new romantic motif tied to the ancient Egyptian elements?
LIDIJA KOLOVRAT: It’s a crossing line. I guess that they would be punks if they were alive nowadays. So that’s one of the reasons, Kolovrat always has a certain relation with street wear and also with tailoring.
ZOOT: Why ancient Egypt?
LIDIJA KOLOVRAT: The first note about the collection was “guts are your new tool,” which was one situation. Do you know what guts are, right? It’s that kind of courage that you believe in internally. It’s like in your own intuition, in your own feelings. After that, I started thinking “well, what is the culture that we can learn from and maybe that we can act and bring something to the knowledge that we already have now?” So, I just felt immediately that Egypt was the one. Actually, right afterwards we saw that many other collections actually already paid a tribute. This kind of thing is unexplainable.
ZOOT: Why do the circles on the models’ faces look like targets?
ANTONIA ROSA: Lidija wanted three-dimensional faces but subtly… without it being too obvious. This is why I created this optical illusion with the circles. I used skin coloured foundation in different tones from Clarins for the 3D effect.
ZOOT: The circles were made using skin tone colors. What was the reason for this?
ANTONIA ROSA: The variations of desert colors are reminiscent of different skin tones, melanin and the sun.
ZOOT: What was your process for creating the look?
ANTONIA ROSA: We calculated the volumes of the faces, by the bone structure and points of reference such as the corners of the mouth, the eyebrows hat and the wings of the nose helps to do a free-hand job. … We used Clarins color foundations, both texture and colors are the closest to skin color.
ZOOT: Can you tell us a little about your fabric choices?
LIDIJA KOLOVRAT: We did the prints, for instance. One of the prints, which were many, but one of the prints we created recreated the cloth of mummies. By making a collage with real fabrics, going through coffee, and creating these forms. So we created patterns that are like the wrapping of the mummies.
