Milan S/S ’13: Blue—on the eyes—is emerging as the Big Trend to watch

UPDATE: False alarm—Monaco Blue is just ONE of the 10 top colours for 2013. The colour of year is, in fact, Emerald.

Didja hear? Pantone has announced their colour of the year for 2013.

And it’s blue. Monaco Blue, to be exact:

When I first heard the news, and saw the shade, I was all, like, REALLY? We’re going from exciting, fabulous, sunshiney Tangerine Tango (even the name makes me happy)… to this plain, medium blue?

But I let it percolate for a while in my brain. And then I saw it come to life on the runway. And now I am starting to understand—and I am all over it.

What you need to know is that blue, not just this exact shade, but all variations of it, are going to be all over the eye(lids) starting from now into spring/summer 2013. Remember when people spoke about blue eyeshadow as if it was an obscene faux pas—that you’d have to be tragically out of style, like a reject from the ’80s, to even consider it? That wasn’t all that long ago. But MY things have changed.

More than any trend I’ve seen on the runways so far, this is The One. The big one. It’s so exciting when things start to come together like this! See, Stella McCartney and Anna Sui were just early adopters before with their blue lashes and blue liner, respectively. Because I can’t get enough of those pics, here—I’ll show them to you again.

Stella:

And Anna:

I hope you love them as much as I do, because you need to get ready to see a lot more of this.

So let’s jet over to S/S ’13. First up is Just Cavalli:

I know I say this about all the runway looks, but (so far) this is my favourite. The combo of the navy liner on the top lid with the shimmery white highlight at the inner corners is so lovely—there’s just enough colour to make it pop and look modern, but it’s not so over-the-top that you couldn’t wear this, well, anywhere.

The blue is a combo of MAC Pro Chromaline liner in Marine Ultra and MAC Pro Pigment in Naval Blue; the white is MAC Pro Pigment in White (mixed with MAC Pro Mixing Medium).

Over at Giorgio Armani, the look was a grey matte eye with a swipe of light turquoise liner:

After a few seasons of graphic black liner from Armani, it’s nice to see something a bit softer. This is achieved with all Armani prodz, obvi: the grey shadow is from the Eyes to Kill Eyeshadow Quad #1, and the blue is from the forthcoming spring 2013 palette (#1), but mixed with water to turn it into a liner. There’s also black liner here (Maestro Liquid Eye Liner) and black Eyes to Kill Lash Stretching Mascara. I think the black takes the blue from ethereal to glam and grown-up and sexy.

(On the lips, if you’re curious, it’s one of the incredible Rouge d’Armani Sheers that I wrote about here, but I believe this is a spring 2013 shade.)

Now let’s look at something a lot brighter. This is Versus:

Can’t find any details yet on what was used to create this, but wowza that’s a bright colour. And, if you recall, we’ve seen a similar version of that graphic shape before at Ohne Titel.

Now here’s the boldest beauty move of Milan Fashion Week. At Fendi, the blue came not in the form of makeup but strips cut from a neoprene bathing suit and glued underneath the models’ eyes!

I know… WUT?! But remember, it’s runway, so think Big Picture. We’re not really going to be taking scissors to our bathing suits or anything like that… it’s the colour and location that you need to be considering.

And lest you’re not buying my blue-eye theory, here are a few more pics from some other shows we didn’t get to discuss yet.

At Altuzarra in New York, the look was navy on the upper lid, close to the lash line:

It’s so ladylike, espesh with the hair, that I almost want to have a corporate job and put on a navy dress and heels and walk around Bay Street.

I said almost.

The prodz are MAC: Technakohl Eyeliner in Auto-de-Blu, and the Ron Ron Run Eyeshadow from the forthcoming Archie’s Girls palette (avail spring 2013).

At Monique Lhuillier, who is known for her bridal wear, the blue was tons more dramatic:

Somehow I can’t imagine this looking good with a wedding dress though. This particular eyeshadow shade is MAC Electric Eel.

Jumping over to London, another super-pretty way to wear blue was at Clements Ribeiro:

It’s similar to the Altuzarra and the Just Cavalli in that the colour is concentrated on the upper lash line, but here it’s worn alone, sans mascara or any other shadow or liner. And the colour’s a bolder, brighter turquoise—looks great with this model’s red hair. BTW, surprise! For once it’s not MAC but Bourjois Paris, a line that has some amazing shadow shades. The makeup artist blended together the Metallise eyeliner with Bleu Clinqiant and some Healthy Mix Concealer, and then Round Pot Eyeshadow #17 on top to set.

Moschino Cheap & Chic did an ’80s take on blue:

And just a few years ago, we probably would’ve cringed at this. (There’s crimped hair too!) But now, I think I could actually do it. I like that the colour is mostly concentrated underneath, but there’s a hint of it on the upper lash line too—and the whole thing slightly smudgey to tie it all together.

The products here are MAC Pro Chromagraphic Pencils in Hi-Def Cyan and Marine Ultra.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is: go out and buy yourself a blue eyeshadow, or pencil, or two. You’ll need them.

What do you think of the blue eye makeup trend?
Would you wear this or do you still associate it with the ’80s?
Which show(s) do you think had the best blues?