Irene Luft's Berlin Fashion Show Looks Are Straight Out of the Fiery Depths of Hell

Face, White, Photograph, Black, Black-and-white, Monochrome, Monochrome photography, People, Head, Lip,

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 15 January 2019

Until this moment, my vision board for Hell was the underworld in Hercules and whatever I can recall from Dante's Inferno (hint: not much). This is no longer the case: These photos from German designer Irene Luft's Berlin Fashion Week show have ascended from the fiery pits of Hell and lodged themselves firmly in my brain, where they shall haunt me for evermore.

Don't get me wrong, the clothes are gorgeous! It's just kind of hard to concentrate on anything other than the utterly chilling mesh contact lenses that all of the models wore to walk in the show on January 15. The models wore their hair pulled back into tight buns, and black lines painted on either side of their face, from their eyelids to their hairline—and the effect, well. I don't know that words do this justice, so here's just the first part of the process:

Face, Nose, Skin, Facial expression, Close-up, Eyebrow, Cheek, Lip, Head, Beauty,

I'm sorry! Really, I am. But you clicked on this. You knew what you were getting into. Here's the next stage.

Face, Eyebrow, Nose, Skin, Cheek, Eye, Eyelash, Beauty, Lip, Close-up,

Ohhhh no. Nonono.

But we're not done yet!

Face, Eyebrow, Skin, Nose, Hair, Cheek, Forehead, Head, Chin, Beauty,

I'll give you a little break from these cursed images to show you this photo of a model's hair, slicked back into a ponytail so tight it must cause one hell of a headache.

Hair, Hairstyle, Blond, Close-up, Wig, Lace wig,

Feeling better? Okay, here's the final product.

Face, Hair, Eyebrow, Lip, Cheek, Nose, Forehead, Skin, Beauty, Head,

Now that you've stared pure horror in the face, how about some more?

Face, Hair, Lip, Eyebrow, Beauty, Skin, Chin, Head, Cheek, Nose,

Face, Eyebrow, Nose, Skin, Lip, Cheek, Head, Forehead, Beauty, Close-up,

Face, Eyebrow, Lip, Beauty, Nose, Skin, Chin, Cheek, Fashion, Blond,

Anyway. Now that I simultaneously want to vomit, cry, and confess all of my sins, I'll leave you to it! Have a wonderful day!!

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Jenny is the Digital Director at Marie Claire. A graduate of Leeds University, and a native of London, she moved to New York in 2012 to attend the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She was the first intern at Bustle when it launched in 2013 and spent five years building out its news and politics department. In 2018 she joined Marie Claire, where she held the roles of Deputy Digital Editor and Director of Content Strategy before becoming Digital Director. Working closely with Marie Claire's exceptional editorial, audience, commercial, and e-commerce teams, Jenny oversees the brand's digital arm, with an emphasis on driving readership. When she isn't editing or knee-deep in Google Analytics, you can find Jenny writing about television, celebrities, her lifelong hate of umbrellas, or (most likely) her dog, Captain. In her spare time, she writes fiction: her first novel, the thriller EVERYONE WHO CAN FORGIVE ME IS DEAD, was published with Minotaur Books (UK) and Little, Brown (US) in February 2024 and became a USA Today bestseller. She has also written extensively about developmental coordination disorder, or dyspraxia , which she was diagnosed with when she was nine.