who keyed the hair looks, the glam team put together a memorable collection of hardcore-looking characters to walk down the runway in Balenciaga’s latest creations. The overall aesthetic was one part intimidatingly cool and one part sleep paralysis demon.
The large cast of models walked the runway wearing various combinations of lip rings, snake bite piercings, Monroe piercings around the lips, eyebrow piercings, bridge piercings around the eyes, cheek, and dimple piercings. The “jewelry” ranged in increasingly hazardous seeming accessories, from balls and barbells, to spikes and even what appeared to be curved nails.
While spring runways often tend towards brighter colors and an overall lightness, we’ve seen many designers embrace the dark side this season, confirming at least for Spring 2023 that punk is not, in fact, dead. Balenciaga is just the next in line to show an emo beauty moment, after Puma’s black lipstick, Dior’s thick, smudged-out eyeliner, and Prada’s spooky eyelash extensions, to name just a few.
Face and body piercings have been experiencing a renaissance as of late, with Cynthia Erivo and Florence Pugh making them a part of their high fashion red carpet looks. Katie Holmes has been wearing her cool girl-signifying nostril piercing out and about in New York. Evenis in on the trend, as she wore a faux nose ring attached to her earring with chains at Balenciaga’s couture show back in July 2022.
Balenciaga is calling it now: serious facial piercings are back and pointier than ever. So, if you’re looking for unconventional piercing ideas look no further. Check out more images of the heavy metal piercings from Balenciaga’s Spring 2023 show, below.