We appear forward to the couture collections for so many reasons–the pure fantasy of it all, the exquisite particulars, and of course, the usually equally as fantastical beauty looks. We’ve already broken down the gorgeous looks at Chanel (left), but here’s a look at the rest of the collections. From elaborate hair accessories to full-face makeup, click by way of for our favorite beauty looks from the spring 2012 couture collections.

Pictures: Imaxtree, except where otherwise noted

Long Nguyen is the co-founder/style director of Flaunt.

PARIS–Walking up a modest steel circular staircase to a single of the halls inside the Grand Palais on Tuesday morning to the Chanel couture show, none of us had any idea that soon after passing through a lengthy silver corridor we would be inside an precise replica of an A380 (company class, of course). Unlike the several spectacular settings at prior Chanel couture shows–the Place Vendôme or the giant golden lion–this time the audience became portion of the set. There had been even flight attendants serving a selection of water, mango juice and champagne.

The setting (complete with a skylight with blue sky and clouds above) emphasized a spring couture collection imbued with the feeling of lightness. Every single model walked by with each hands tucked nonchalantly into the little pockets seams–a new attitude in couture. And that’s no straightforward feat–to convey a sense of lightness and even casualness although wearing beaded and embroidered couture clothes. We tend to believe of couture overly created, heavy–pieces that are excellent on the runway or in a magazine editorial but unrealistic for today’s ladies. Not so at this show.

In keeping with the strict weight limits for checked luggage on flights these days (constantly a little humor from Mr. Lagerfeld), even the embroidery operate on the evening dresses seemed a lot lighter than in prior seasons. The feeling of lightness was helped by blue mood lighting about the plane windows and streaming by way of the skylight, which served to emphasize the fully blue palette of the collection.

The embroideries were as subtle as they had been sophisticated. They demonstrated the operate of the skilled craftspeople at the métiers d’arts like the embroider Lesage and the jeweler Goosens–all part of the higher Chanel family members. I fairly like the layered petal dress created with blue/grey beads with grey/black trims. It is the type of dress I could see the actress Vanessa Paradis (seated in 15E I believe) wearing.

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