7 posts tagged "Erdem"
“A Touch of Wednesday Addams,” Backstage at Erdem
The Erdem girl has always been on something of an emotional journey. Two seasons ago, she was looking for love; last season, she had found it and lost it. This season, however, she gave up on the prospect of love altogether—and took a turn toward the dark side instead. “There’s a touch of Wednesday Addams about her,” makeup artist Hannah Murray confirmed backstage of the “spooky” beauty look. “The collection is quite dark, so the girl we’re creating is a little ghostly.”
Crafting “moonlit,” luminescent skin, using NARS Multiple in Luxor for a dramatic highlight, Murray blended its forthcoming Single Eye Shadow in Namibia, a dove-gray matte pigment, from the lash line right up to the brows to give a halo effect around the eyes. But the real focus was a set of magnificently groomed arches, which Murray crafted using NARS’ as-yet-unreleased Brow Perfector. “The brows are really important to this look, but they need to look real and not drawn on,” Murray explained, sketching individual hairs, rather than taking long sweeps with the pencil, to make the line look as natural as possible.
Rather than duplicate Wednesday Addams’ signature center part, hairstylist Luke Hersheson carved out severe side parts and poker-straight polished hair. “The positioning of the parting is critical with this look—it needs to be on the left-hand side and begin two-thirds of the way down the brows,” he pointed out, using L’Oréal Professionnel Tecni Art Pli and Liss Control to give strands a super-glossy mirror-like finish.
EXCLUSIVE: Backstage Beauty Alert: NARS Extends Its Reach Across The Pond
NARS is a New York fashion week staple—even more so since the brand’s namesake founder returned to the backstage trenches for the Fall 2009 season to reunite with longtime friend and collaborator Marc Jacobs on the beauty look for the designer’s show. Since then, Francois Nars’ expertly crafted color palette and divinely textured creams, powders—and, more recently, skin salves—have been increasingly responsible for major makeup moments on the runway at shows like Thakoon, Rodarte, 3.1 Phillip Lim and starting last season, Alexander Wang. The brand’s presence in Europe, however, has been a work in progress that’s about to get a big boon: after nabbing sponsorship duties at Christopher Kane for Spring, NARS has just announced that it will be taking over face-painting duties backstage at Erdem for Fall. The London-based label is on the upswing, thanks in part to a few recent celebrity endorsements (Sienna Miller’s Golden Globes Erdem two-piece was upstaged only by the sheer ensemble Kristen Stewart memorably wore to an On The Road premiere back in December), and designer Erdem Moralioglu’s commitment to strong beauty looks (Spring’s psychedelic Stepford Wives, anyone?) leads us to believe that this partnership is a match made in makeup heaven. Stay tuned.
“Sci-chedelic” Stepford Wives, Backstage At Erdem
Gone was the Victoriana-goth girl that ruled the mood boards backstage at Erdem for Fall. In her place: “otherworldly creatures,” according to face painter Andrew Gallimore, who set to work sculpting a “much brighter, more luminous lady” for Spring.
“Sci-chedelic” is the neologism that was being bandied about between hair and makeup artists in reference to a certain sci-fi psychedelia that informed the beauty effort. “They’re supposed to be like an army of clones,” Gallimore explained, applying a base of MAC Mineralize Moisture Foundation and a touch of its Prep + Prime Finishing Powder. “It’s a bit Stepford Wife-y,” he continued, working its Strobe Cream into the nose bridge, cheeks, and the cupid’s bow of lips to create a futuristic luminosity. Curling the lashes and brushing brows upward, Gallimore slicked mouths with MAC Lipmix in Mid-Tone Nude before dabbing just the center with its Pigment in Neo-Orange to allow for a punchy pop of color.
“The whimsical, romantic Erdem girl has evolved into a tougher, more androgynous woman,” Charles Worthington artistic director Marc Trinder agreed, sculpting a clean, strong bun for the occasion. Coating strands with the brand’s new Salon Secrets Elixir, Trinder partially dried them so they retained a bit of a greasy, wet finish. Fashioning a deep side part, he proceeded to gather lengths into a low ponytail at the nape of the neck that resulted in a tight, twisted chignon. Worthington’s Front Row Mirror Dazzle Shine Spray and a fat blush brush swept away any lingering flyaways.
Cat-Eyes, 2.0
The classic sixties cat-eye had a major second coming for Spring after it turned up on runways on both sides of the Atlantic. From Ruffian and Jonathan Saunders to Dolce & Gabbana and Kanye West, perfect black flicks in varying lengths and widths were the makeup accessory last season. As Charlotte Tilbury pointed out backstage at Donna Karan’s Fall show, “it’s all about eyes” again this season. But while winged liner shapes enjoyed a colorful update in New York, appearing in shades of red at 3.1 Phillip Lim, chartreuse at VPL, burnt orange at Narciso Rodriguez, and blue at Anna Sui, they’ve gone graphic in London. Andrew Gallimore debuted “floating” flicks backstage at Erdem, while diffused edges that squared off the outer corner of eyes was the look of choice at Aquascutum. Yesterday, makeup artist Val Garland started her obsidian line at the nose bridge, etching an abstract stroke towards the socket that stops before coming to a geometric point at Mary Katrantzou. The clever thing about all three techniques is that when the models’ eyes were open, the black pigment passed for a relatively normal uptick—making the visual trickery that much more impressive to the informed observer. Consider yourself in the know.
“Floating” Liner And The “Bow-Tail” Debut Backstage At Erdem
Makeup artist Andrew Gallimore plotted the face at Erdem amid a flurry of buzzwords: robotic, androgynous, futuristic, intelligent, architectural. But it wasn’t until Mr. Moralioglu talked about creating a “trick of the eye” that Gallimore’s look fell into place. “He said it, and I thought of this floating flick in the socket. It’s not on the lashline, it’s not a 1950′s line—it’s got a robotic, modern feel to it. And it’s minimal—when there’s so much going on with the clothes, this is just a touch of something different,” he said, drawing a sideways triangle using MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack onto a perfected canvas of MAC Strobe Cream, Studio Sculpt Foundation, and its Prep + Prime Transparent Finishing Powder. A slick of MAC Lip Conditioner SPF15 kept mouths moisturized but discreet.
More glossy polish came courtesy of St. Tropez’ resident skin-finishing expert, Nichola Joss, who used the shades of amethyst that shot through the collection as an excuse to break out a bottle of St. Tropez Violet Skin Illuminator, which added an almost unearthly, incandescent hue to the exposed limbs in the show. Even the nails weren’t quite of this world. Erdem was very specific about the shade he was after—an androgynous but vibrant blue courtesy of Nail Girls Electric Blue 12, a custom color that will be available for purchase come August.
As for the hair, Marc Trinder used Moralioglu’s hodgepodge of references to arrive at the “bow-tail”—a “super-luxe, polished ponytail with a tiny, girly bow,” he elaborated backstage. Damp hair was prepped with Charles Worthington Sensitive Ultra Soothing Detangler Spray, worked into a center part, and then glossed up using its Hair Elixir. After smoothing the mid-lengths with hands that had been coated with Charles Worthington Front Row Heat Defence Spray, strands were flat-ironed and gathered at the nape of the neck. A fine black ribbon softened the sleek lines, with a drop more of the Hair Elixir to banish flyaways.