Is that a red lip or a pink lip? “Red” lipstick, as we know, runs the gamut from MAC’s Ruby Woo to Tom Ford’s Smoke Red, can have blue undertones or lean towards orange, and turns many a visit to the makeup counter into a multiple choice test for which no one—I’m convinced—knows the answer (I shake my head ruefully anytime a friend asks for a personalized recommendation). I say: if you like it, if you feel like you look good in it, go for it and wear that color with confidence.

Buzzing around a makeshift backstage area at the Plaza hotel in March, Diane Kendal told me that “ Thakoon wanted to focus on the lips this season. We’re using a fuchsia pink, which is not an obvious color for a bold lip.” To achieve the ultra-vibrant hue, she hand-painted NARS’ Heat Wave semi-matte lipstick (a “bright orange-red', in fact!) onto models’ lips, then patted an intense pink pigment powder on top. Oh, makeup geniuses and your magical layering tricks.

What struck me about this look [shown here on French beauty Othilia Simon, who posed for an impromptu photo shoot in one of the hotel’s gilded hallways] more than anything is how a pink (red? Orange-red?!) lip should be worn: with clean, sheer, glowing skin. Any more foundation or concealer would have taken it into “uptown” territory, but Kendal, ever the minimalist (and modernist), kept the face totally fresh and bare save for that intense pop of color. In a copycat move, I’ve been wearing MAC's Girl About Town and NARS' Funny Face—two of the most famous fuchsias around—with a tap of Eight Hour Cream on my eyelids, brow bones, and brows, and long, feathery lashes. Now all I need is Odile Gilbert Kérastase-ing my hair into a sleek updo, and one of Thakoon’s gorgeous fall party dresses…

Othilia is wearing her own Alexander Wang sweater.