Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall ‘09: J.Mendel and Juan Carlos Obando

During the recent Fashion Week Fall 2009, I had the opportunity to attend the runway shows of J.Mendel and Juan Carlos Obando. I also went backstage before each of them to check out the hair and makeup. At J.Mendel, lead hairstylist Odile Gilbert created a modern take on the traditional chignon to complement J.Mendel’s Fall 2009 collection. Gilbert used Barex Italiana products, including Gum Gum, Gloss Shine Spray, Re-Define Creme, Gloss Mousse, and Hairspray to make the front of the hair appear like a chignon, but from the back it is a ponytail. “It’s beautiful from the front, back, and side,” says Gilbert. Makeup artist Tanya Cropsey for Bobbi Brown created a classic, timeless look. She used no foundation on the models, and gave them a “diffused smoky eye” by starting with the lower lid and building the color up. A red shade was applied to the lips with a white powder over it to give it a matte velvet appearance.

At Juan Carlos Obando, hairstylist Rodney Groves used wigs to create volume. To get the desired look, he used Number 4 High Performance Hair Care’s Fleur deTemps Volume Collection and other topselling products. First Groves prepared the wig with Lumiere d’hiver Super Comb Prep & Protect, then he applied Jour d’automne Syling Foam. Next, he pin curled hair with a 1/4 inch curling iron, set the hair, and then brushed it out with a wide tooth comb. He created a drop halo effect that resembles a mix between a 1930’s wedge haircut and a 1970’s Biba Girl. He finished the look with an application of Shine Serum, Jour d’automne Texture Styling Creme, and Hairspray. Makeup consisted of little or no foundation and concealor, groomed eyebrows, eyes made to look like a shadow is being cast on them by a light, and dark red lips.

—Nicole Palmieri, Editorial Assistant

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall ’09: Catherine Malandrino

Backstage at Catherine Malandrino

Catherine Malandrino’s elegant Fall ’09 show was held on Thursday at the venerable Rainbow Room on the 65th floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Guests, who included Mena Suvari and Mary J Blige, were treated to Bellini cocktails and hors d’oeuvres before being ushered into the glamorous round room for the show. Before the show, I headed backstage to chat with salon owner and Wella Professionals lead colorist Eva Scrivo and lead hairstylist for Sebastian Professional Odile Gilbert about the beautiful and mysterious netting-wrapped chignons they teamed up to create that were inspired by photographer and painter Man Ray’s work. The preparation started days before at Scrivo’s Bond Street salon in Manhattan, where she and her team hand-painted the human-hair extensions using Wella’s Koleston Perfect and Color Touch products. “I wanted to change the rules of haircolor by mixing warm and cool palettes,” she told me. The color and texture were intended to mimic wood grain, with light and dark and cool and warm colors running parallel to each other in wide and narrow widths for nonsymmetrical results. Backstage before the show Gilbert wove the wefts into the hair to create three separate chignons on the top and front of the head, fixing the look with Sebastian Professional Shaper Zero Gravity and Re-Shaper and covering the chignons with netting. Some models faces were also covered by the netting.

Lead makeup artist for M.A.C Tom Pecheux focused the makeup look on the eyes, applying three different shades of eyeliner in sharp lines to the hollow, crease and lower lash line, using just a nude conditioner on the lips. CND lead nail tech Lulu Cooper applied the finishing touch to nails: an icy mushroom-taupe nail color that was custom blended for the show.

—Lotus Abrams, Managing Editor

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall ’09: Catherine Malandrino

Backstage at Catherine Malandrino

Catherine Malandrino’s elegant Fall ’09 show was held on Thursday at the venerable Rainbow Room on the 65th floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Guests, who included Mena Suvari and Mary J Blige, were treated to Bellini cocktails and hors d’oeuvres before being ushered into the glamorous round room for the show. Before the show, I headed backstage to chat with salon owner and Wella Professionals lead colorist Eva Scrivo and lead hairstylist for Sebastian Professional Odile Gilbert about the beautiful and mysterious netting-wrapped chignons they teamed up to create that were inspired by photographer and painter Man Ray’s work. The preparation started days before at Scrivo’s Bond Street salon in Manhattan, where she and her team hand-painted the human-hair extensions using Wella’s Koleston Perfect and Color Touch products. “I wanted to change the rules of haircolor by mixing warm and cool palettes,” she told me. The color and texture were intended to mimic wood grain, with light and dark and cool and warm colors running parallel to each other in wide and narrow widths for nonsymmetrical results. Backstage before the show Gilbert wove the wefts into the hair to create three separate chignons on the top and front of the head, fixing the look with Sebastian Professional Shaper Zero Gravity and Re-Shaper and covering the chignons with netting. Some models faces were also covered by the netting.

Lead makeup artist for M.A.C Tom Pecheux focused the makeup look on the eyes, applying three different shades of eyeliner in sharp lines to the hollow, crease and lower lash line, using just a nude conditioner on the lips. CND lead nail tech Lulu Cooper applied the finishing touch to nails: an icy mushroom-taupe nail color that was custom blended for the show.

—Lotus Abrams, Managing Editor

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall ’09: Rodarte

Odile Gilbert for Aveda at Rodarte

On Tuesday I headed to the Gagosian Gallery for the eagerly anticipated Rodarte show, which was attended by Kirsten Dunst and Elijah Wood. Backstage, lead stylist for Aveda Odile Gilbert was creating chignons from ponytails that were laced up and wrapped for added interest. Stylists first applied a new Aveda product—Smooth Infusion Glossing Straightener (launching in July)—to the hair, then blow-dried it straight. Next they created a low side part, pulling the hair back tightly into a low-slung ponytail, slightly off-center.

Reusable water bottles.

They then wrapped an elastic string up and down the length of the tail in a criss-cross pattern—meant to mimic the laces on the collection’s boots—and wrapped the bound ponytail into a square-shaped bun on the left side of the head, pinning in place and finishing with Air Control Hair Spray. “The look is classic and modern at the same time,” Gilbert told me.

For the makeup look, lead stylist for M.A.C James Kaliardos was using nude and gray shades of makeup to play on the collection’s theme of deconstruction and reconstruction. “We are reconstructing the face,” he told me, “particularizing each plane and part of the face.”

Runway

Nails were done up in Deborah Lippmann’s Marquee Moon, an aluminum color with hexagon- and round-shaped sequins that was created specifically for the show.

 —Lotus Abrams, Managing Editor

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall ’09: Rodarte

Odile Gilbert for Aveda at Rodarte

On Tuesday I headed to the Gagosian Gallery for the eagerly anticipated Rodarte show, which was attended by Kirsten Dunst and Elijah Wood. Backstage, lead stylist for Aveda Odile Gilbert was creating chignons from ponytails that were laced up and wrapped for added interest. Stylists first applied a new Aveda product—Smooth Infusion Glossing Straightener (launching in July)—to the hair, then blow-dried it straight. Next they created a low side part, pulling the hair back tightly into a low-slung ponytail, slightly off-center.

Reusable water bottles.

They then wrapped an elastic string up and down the length of the tail in a criss-cross pattern—meant to mimic the laces on the collection’s boots—and wrapped the bound ponytail into a square-shaped bun on the left side of the head, pinning in place and finishing with Air Control Hair Spray. “The look is classic and modern at the same time,” Gilbert told me.

For the makeup look, lead stylist for M.A.C James Kaliardos was using nude and gray shades of makeup to play on the collection’s theme of deconstruction and reconstruction. “We are reconstructing the face,” he told me, “particularizing each plane and part of the face.”

Runway

Nails were done up in Deborah Lippmann’s Marquee Moon, an aluminum color with hexagon- and round-shaped sequins that was created specifically for the show.

 

 

 

 —Lotus Abrams, Managing Editor

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall ‘09: Tuleh

My Fashion Week schedule then led me to the New York Design Center for the Tuleh show. The Barex style team, led by the renowned Yannick D’Is, created their own take on the chic hairstyles of the 1920s and ’30s. D’Is told me that he didn’t want to copy the styles exactly, but wanted to achieve a look that was elegant, romantic and fun. The designer also gave him the challenge of giving all of the models short hair—without actually cutting it. To do this, the Barex team took to the hair with Hot Tools curling irons, pinned the curls to let them set and then broke up the curls.

D’Is then tucked the wavy hair under, creating a modified bob that had both life and volume. D’Is also stressed the importance of the hair’s texture, saying that it had to look healthy and shiny.

The makeup for the Tuleh show was done by M.A.C, led by Polly Osmond. Inspired by Parisian women of the 1930s, she focused on making sure the skin looked clean and perfect. She gave the models a precise, elongated brow and soft, smoky eyes. A matte mauve shade for the lips was created by using black lipstick and staining it on, a hue that Osmond called “soft, but not very wearable off the runway.”

—Lori Morris, senior editor

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall ‘09: Walter

My Fashion Week experience started out on a high note at the Walter show. Stylist Scott Fontana used a variety of the 29 products from his brand-new line, Badass Hair, to create the “street-edgy” looks that perfectly complemented the designer’s signature urban/exotic style. Fontana did a lot of teasing and back-combing to achieve the messy but sophisticated style he was going for. Once the hair was in place (or purposely out of place, as it was), Fontanta wrapped the ‘do with black thread as another design element. Some models also received decorative feather hair accessories to add even more punch. —Lori Morris, senior editor

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall ’09: Diego Binetti

Lead hairstylist for Sebastian Professional Thomas Dunkin

Diego Binetti’s innovative Fall ’09 show on Sunday at Focus Studios featured dancers from the Cedar Lake Dance Company, who pushed models on round platforms onto the runway, where they dismounted and walked the floor. Backstage, lead hairstylist for Sebastian Professional Thomas Dunkin created hairstyles inspired by Marlene Dietrich’s glamorous look from the 1920s. Dunkin began by working Sebastian Professional Mousse Forte through the hair, then blow-drying it with a round brush. He then divided the hair into sections, spraying them with Shaper Zero Gravity hairspray and curling them with a 1/2-inch iron then pinning each curl. Finally, the hair was brushed out and randomly pinned up to jaw length, then sprayed with Shine Define hairspray. The makeup was equally stunning. Lead makeup artist for Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics (OCC) Katie Pellegrino applied metallic eyebrow shapes to brows in silver, gold and bronze, and used OCC’s new Lip Tar in Patricia on lips to give them a pop of fuchsia-purple. Graphic black eyeliner and a dusty cheek finished the gothic, feminine look. Dancers, who were clad in black Spandex unitards, were made up with half black and half white airbrush makeup by OCC’s CEO and Creative Director David Klasfeld. For the finishing touch, CND lead nail tech Angie Wingle gave the nails a medieval feeling with four distinctive nail designs featuring gold, silver and black. —Lotus Abrams, Managing Editor

Diego Binetti's Fall '09 show

OCC's David Klasfeld applying airbrush makeup

Me with CND's Jan Arnold

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall ’09: Diego Binetti

Lead hairstylist for Sebastian Professional Thomas Dunkin

Diego Binetti’s innovative Fall ’09 show on Sunday at Focus Studios featured dancers from the Cedar Lake Dance Company, who pushed models on round platforms onto the runway, where they dismounted and walked the floor. Backstage, lead hairstylist for Sebastian Professional Thomas Dunkin created hairstyles inspired by Marlene Dietrich’s glamorous look from the 1920s. Dunkin began by working Sebastian Professional Mousse Forte through the hair, then blow-drying it with a round brush. He then divided the hair into sections, spraying them with Shaper Zero Gravity hairspray and curling them with a 1/2-inch iron then pinning each curl. Finally, the hair was brushed out and randomly pinned up to jaw length, then sprayed with Shine Define hairspray. The makeup was equally stunning. Lead makeup artist for Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics (OCC) Katie Pellegrino applied metallic eyebrow shapes to brows in silver, gold and bronze, and used OCC’s new Lip Tar in Patricia on lips to give them a pop of fuchsia-purple. Graphic black eyeliner and a dusty cheek finished the gothic, feminine look. Dancers, who were clad in black Spandex unitards, were made up with half black and half white airbrush makeup by OCC’s CEO and Creative Director David Klasfeld. For the finishing touch, CND lead nail tech Angie Wingle gave the nails a medieval feeling with four distinctive nail designs featuring gold, silver and black. —Lotus Abrams, Managing Editor

Diego Binetti's Fall '09 show

OCC's David Klasfeld applying airbrush makeup

Me with CND's Jan Arnold

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall ‘09: Charlotte Ronson

Me with Thomas Dunkin, lead hairstylist for Sebastian Professional

On Friday I hit the tents at Bryant Park to see what hairstyle Thomas Dunkin, lead hairstylist for Sebastian Professional, was creating for the Charlotte Ronson show, which featured clothing inspired by a combination of 1940s glamour and rocker femininity. Dunkin was doing ponytails that were sleek and tight through the crown of the head with a natural texture in the tail, using some of Sebastian’s new Flaunt collection of products. To get the look, which Dunkin described as “glamorous, fun and young,” he flat ironed the first third of the hair pin straight, then misted Trilliant over the top of the head for surface shine. He then combed the hair into a taught ponytail, spraying the top with Halo Mist and Shine Define flexible hold hairspray. He used Gel Forte to tame flyaways. Meanwhile, Luc Bouchard, key makeup artist for M.A.C was trying to capture the “emotion in the eyes and lips,” applying a dark greenish-gray tone to the eyes for a look of subtle sadness and a combination of Chestnut and Night Moth pencils to the lips, using a lip brush to apply the colors. —Lotus Abrams, Managing Editor