I’m standing in the nut butter aisle at the Tribeca Whole Foods, weighing two different jars in my hands, when a small child runs past, screaming. Then he sees me—and falls silent. All around, the post-work finance crowd maintains an easy distance that lets me sashay through the store, swinging my basket back and forth freely. At last, I had found it—the key to a peaceful, private life in downtown Manhattan. The secret, dear friends? Just a little Givenchy face jewelry.
How did I get here, you ask? Last winter, Riccardo Tisci sent a line of ethereal creatures down the Fall runway, their faces dripping with jewels—cheeks dotted with rubies and pearls, emeralds dangling from septa. It was jaw-dropping, almost extraterrestrial—there was no way, I thought, that the look would ever translate. But then I talked to makeup legend Pat McGrath, who had worked with Tisci backstage. “I can see it catching on easily, though I believe in everything,” she told me with a laugh. “Maybe I’m just a weird believer.”
Maybe. But a facial jewelry movement is certainly swelling. At the Delfina Delettrez couture presentation this summer, the designer unveiled an engagement ring meant not for the hand, but the nose—a silver septum piece with a single trillion-cut diamond. Around the same time, Kiev-based designer Jean Gritsfeldt released oversize crystal nose and lip flower clips that hang over the chin. Are these pieces too far-out? “I try to design one-of-a-kind jewelry, but that can still be worn in everyday life,” Gritsfeldt says. McGrath felt the same way about Givenchy’s look. “Why not wear it in the day if you’re really daring?” she asked. Indeed, why not? I wanted to find out.
A few days later, 18 Givenchy gems arrived at the Vogue.com offices—the full jet-black set worn by Tilda Lindstam on the runway. Before playing around with them, I considered the rest of my canvas. McGrath said she kept the faces nude but groomed. “It was very impactful, the fact that the faces were completely bare with the jewelry being so incredibly ornate and rich,” she added. “But I do think you could do a strong eye with it as well. That would give you a totally different feel.” Dutifully, I patted on NARS Radiance Enhancing primer, groomed the brows, and slicked on a layer of MAC black gel liner. At the show, McGrath used Spirit Gum to apply the heavier face pieces, but for me, she suggested a light eyelash adhesive. I placed a delicate, daisy-shaped crystal on each cheekbone, and a smaller dot on the side of my nose, just opposite a matte black ring with a floral charm. To round out the look with the neo-Victorian feel that Tisci intended, I grabbed a black lace minidress and a pair of midi boots.
“Wow, that looks sick,” one coworker said as we passed in the hallway. Another nodded his head in approval: “I didn’t think it would work off the runway, but now that I see it . . .” All morning, I heard nothing but glowing compliments and rounds of “Givenchy?” But when I went out to do some field testing in the real world, among the bankers and tourists, things took a predictable turn. “Is that a thing?” I heard someone ask, with a proverbial eye roll. A middle-age couple murmured in a foreign language within earshot: “Oh my,” I translated to myself, “what the hell is that?”
The next day, however, I decided to try a more cyberpunk-rock style—think FKA twigs–meets–model Fernanda Ly—by pairing my facial jewelry with high-waist skinny dark denim, a black spaghetti-strap tank, and platforms. Instantly, I felt far more at ease than I had in the stiff lace. I attached two crystals, one beneath each eye, and turned to my boyfriend for a second opinion. “You look like an anime character,” he said, and he wasn’t wrong, but I kind of loved it. At a West Village coffee shop, a stranger turned to me. “I love your face. What is that?” she said, smiling, and I smiled, too.
At the office, I ran into Vogue.com Fashion News Director Chioma Nnadi, who advised me to pull my hair back. “Then it’s more of a look,” she said, which helped me remember something else Pat had told me: “I think if you’re going to go for it, go for it!” And so, I pulled up a picture of Tilda, and started adding pieces to my face—two on the cheeks, one on the chin. All 10 earrings, and both nose rings for good measure, and then I pulled my hair back into a messy, punk ponytail.
At first, it was too much—the septum ring looked alarmingly like a mini mustache—but after a few minutes, something strange happened and I fell in love. Perhaps it was a mental coping mechanism? One coworker stared at me thoughtfully. “Before, I thought you had chicken pox, but now it’s kind of entrancing,” she said. In a way, it made sense: Much like the look on the runway, it was the strange, quixotic beauty of it all that was so compelling. Maybe, I’ve become a weird believer, too.
Givenchy hoop earrings in black metal and pearls, $760; givenchy.com
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