The Eyeliner Codes of A/W15

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Mary Katrantzou A/W15
Mary Katrantzou A/W15Photography by Chris Rhodes

We look at the cosmetics codes that have marked the eyes of A/W15's models

This season's beauty has featured eyeliner in all of its possible incarnations. Waterlined and smudged under the eyes, it turned girls from Alexander Wang to Versace into sullen teenagers. Flicked across lids at Fendi and Proenza Schouler, it became a kind of artistic expressionism. We take a look at the five key codes that have appeared from around the globe.

1. Tightlined waterlines
At Victoria Beckham and Versace, Pat McGrath black-pencilled the waterlines of the models. The effect was an immediate transformation: young, fresh faced girls turned sullen and moody as the pencil softened and smudged and we were all reminded of our angsty teenage years.

2. On upper lashlines
At Edun, black flicks were carefully painted onto upper lashlines by Charlotte Tilbury, completing a Beatnik nostalgia suggested by polonecks and graphical colour blocking. Plus, her careful work reflected the precise lines in the barcode prints. Very thorough.

3. Smudged underneath
At Alexander Wang, models had washes of lightly smudged shadow applied under their lower lashes, evocative of badly-removed night-before makeup or getting caught in the rain without a waterproof mascara. At Marques'Almeida, Terry Barber took it a step further. His girls got caught in a downpour.

4. Artistically applied
Diane Kendal artfully smeared streaks of black across the lids of the girls at Proenza Schouler, while Fendi had feathered and smudged lines. For two shows that overtly spoke to an artistic aesthetic, it felt very cohesive (although slightly difficult to replicate off-runway).

5. Dotted underneath
Val Garland drew short, thick lines under the lower lashline of Mary Katrantzou's models in a surprisingly minimal collection for the London-based designer famed for embellishments.