Nicole Kidman Shuts Down the Runway With Balenciaga’s Signature Extreme Eyeliner

From the runway to the showgoers, there was no shortage of star power at today’s Balenciaga couture show in Paris. But let’s be clear: Nicole Kidman shut down the runway as only she can. As husband Keith Urban beamed from the front row, the Oscar-winning actor made her catwalk debut. And true to do-anything-for-the-role form, Kidman delivered a complete and utter couture performance. In fact, there were audible gasps when Kidman stepped on the runway in a sumptuous metallic silver gown with a lengthy sweeping train and a set of black opera gloves. Only upping the ante were her teased strawberry blonde half-up hair and the extreme sweeps of jet black eyeliner—a recent signature of Demna’s shows.

“It’s laser-sharp, deep, deep black long eyeliner that gives it this modernity,” says makeup artist Inge Grognard of the more futuristic couture effect of the graphic eye look, which is adjusted slightly according to each person’s individual eye and cheekbone shape. When creating this look, it’s a pot of gel eyeliner from Kiko Milano or Maybelline applied with a thin, sharp eyeliner brush that creates that precise, ultra-onyx “doesn’t move” finish, says Grognard. As for the rest of the look, less isn’t just more—it’s essential in mirroring Demna’s radically reimagined brand of couture. “When you put mascara and eyeshadow on top, it’s too retro,” Grognard says of the choice to keep the rest of the makeup bare, save for minimal foundation where needed (and a few exceptions for the runway’s celebrity cameos). The takeaway on Balenciaga’s new beauty code? Black eyeliner traced on a knife’s edge is all the more powerful and provocative when left to stand on its own—even if it’s worn with a sweeping crinoline skirt.

As Grognard puts it, “What Demna is doing with Balenciaga couture is making it really relevant now. There were pieces based on the past, but he gives it that touch of now.”