Backstage at NY Fashion Week: Products, Tips, and Trends
Every year when Fashion Week rolls around in New York, perfectly poised models in elegantly crafted clothing are not an uncommon sight. So many additional people and so much work go into creating and executing every show. Here is a look backstage at the shows of a few of our favorite designers: Minnie Mortimer, Giovanna Randall, and Behnaz Sarafpour.
On Wednesday, September 8th, Minnie Mortimer’s show kicked off Fashion Week Spring 2011 at 10AK cub in downtown Manhattan. René Furterer teamed with celebrity stylist Sean James, Workshop Director of the Fred Segal Salon in LA, and together created a look that went perfectly with Mortimer’s collection.
All 12 stylists on Sean James’ team were equipped with the new Vegetal styling system by René Furterer to create looks that would be both sophisticated and shining with health. The collection was full of sophisticated, yet casual designs that can be worn day into night. James was inspired by the clothing and kept hair relatively simple. He drew from the lustrous glamour of long, flowing styles worn by Lauren Bacall and Rita Hayworth during Hollywood’s golden era. James offered a description saying, “It’s all about controlled sophistication. We call our hair look our Pin-Up Girl Meets the Beach. With Minnie’s clothes we went for hair that’s glamorous and fashionable, yet wearable.”
For hair preparation, James started with Furterer Volumea Volumizing Foam and blew the hair dry with the BaByliss Volare dryer. He used a side part following the allure of the 1940’s, and then, starting at the crown, divided the hair into three-inch-wide sections and one by one each section was sprayed by the René Furterer Vegetal Finishing Spray before it was curled around the rod of a one inch curling iron. After curling, James suggests brushing through the hair claiming, “You get that gorgeous finish just by brushing the hair,” and then spritzing with René Furterer Glossing Spray for extra shine, and then sprayed with René Furterer Vetegal Finishing Spray.
For finishing touches, the backstage team added gorgeous fake eyelashes, strong eyeliner and bold red lips from celebrity makeup artist Sharon Gault of Opus Beauty and her team, perfectly complementing the shining, flowing tresses designed by Sean James.
Backstage at up-and-coming designer Giovanna Randall’s Honor Spring 2011, James Boehmer for Nars created a barely-there look with “cold, ghostly” eyes and “fleshy, perfect pink” pouts that complemented Randall’s youthful touches to sophisticated staple pieces. Boehmer designed his look by starting with clean skin and evening out complexions using foundation. To get the same look, skip the mascara and eyeliner for a hallow effect on the eye, smooth on a violet brown eye shimmer, deepening the shade for a smoky eye or blending out for a softer appeal. Contour your cheeks with Powder Blush in Zen. Then finish the look by pressing on a nude lip color using your fingers so it’s not chalky.
Behnaz Sarafpour’s Spring 2011 collection was pretty and practical, inspired from taking time in the garden, and resulted in a collection with delicate cut-outs, light and airy fabrics with some lace interplay. The hair at this show really stood out as Ashleigh Javier for Kerastase Paris wound the hair into up-swept, intricate French braids. Javier says that the hair design “felt sculptural, very serious, with structure and execution.” The braids were child-like French braids that can actually last for a week, but not in a cornrow style.
The look is very practical as it takes only three products and the braided aspect makes it easy to recreate.
Get the Look:
- First divide the hair into workable parts, and work through the Elixir Ultime (to be launched in November 2011), a product that adds body, fullness, healthiness, and shine to hair – made of maize oil, argan oil, camellia oil, and pracaxi oil.
- Working with the smaller sections, incorporate the pieces together to make one, long braid.
- Use a skinny ponytail holder, like a clear elastic one, and use u-shaped pins to secure into place.
- Spray all over with either Double Force Controle Ultime Hair Spray for extra-strength hold, or the Kerastase VolumActive Hair Spray for fine hair.
The other distinguishing look provided by the Sarafpour show was the nails created by Roxanne Valinoti for CDC. The look was a short to medium length, flesh-toned color rimmed with silver chrome on the edges to give the illusion that one had been working in the garden.
Get the “Garden Nail” Look:
- Apply one coat of a flesh-toned hue (Perfectly Bare was the Spring 2011 color used).
- The easiest way to get the chrome rim is to apply just a touch of silver polish to a cotton swab and thinly apply to the tip of the nail.
- Put on Air Dry Top Coat to complete the look.
Keep checking our blog for more popular up-and-coming trends, and for tips and advice on how to achieve the looks for yourself!
By Molly Stiffler
