57 posts tagged "Frederic Fekkai"
A Pearl Per Girl—Plus Makeup That Shines—Backstage At Chanel
Everything that comes out of the house of Chanel starts with Karl Lagerfeld—his sketches, his ideas, even where he walks. “The inspiration was actually the floor in Karl’s new studio, which is a metallic parquet,” Peter Philips explained of the beauty look for the Spring show. “The one key word [Karl] used was shine,” the Chanel creative director of makeup continued, pointing out that the direction got him thinking about skin textures and color consistency, which led him where these conversations often do: to Chanel’s incomparable Illusion d’Ombre Long-Wear Luminous Eyeshadow.
The soufflé-like cream pigment that can be worn sheer or built up for more opacity debuted in a brand-new color today, a forthcoming platinum hue that Philips blended all the way up to brows, which were elongated a bit for proportion with its Crayon Sourcils Sculpting Eyebrow Pencils. “I actually applied the mascara first,” Philips pointed out of Chanel’s Inimitable Intense wand in Noir, which went on in one swipe after skin was prepped with its Vitalumiere Satin Smoothing Fluid Makeup, left to dry, and then reapplied three times for added drama. “It’s kind of heavy-handed but in this kind of big venue, we need to do something that can be seen,” Philips elaborated, duly tracing lids with a thick etching of its Stylo Yeux Waterproof Long-Lasting Eyeliner in Ebene while lining the inner rims with its Le Crayon Kohl in Graphite, a dark gray. The shine theme was revisited on lips, which Philips treated to a quick slick of Chanel Rouge Allure Luminous Satin Lipcolor in Gracile, a soft pink, and then promptly lacquered with its Lèvres Scintillantes Glossimer in Plaisir, a sheer peach. “We’re going to oil them up a little bit, too,” Philips added of models’ exposed limbs, which his team greased down right before they hit the runway for an extra glisten.
In what was perhaps the greatest testament to Spring’s dominating neutral nail trend, Philips eschewed more statement colors, which are often customary here, in favor of the most classic polish protocol there is: the French manicure. “We’re using Ballerina and Eastern Light,” he explained, big-upping the full-coverage white varnish that will launch as part of his as-yet-unreleased Hong Kong mini collection.
Hairstylist Sam McKnight also takes much of his direction from Lagerfeld—as well as the designer’s go-to accessories maven, Maison Michel creative director Laetitia Crahay. “Laetitia always brings a box [to fittings],” McKnight explained of the CC-logo pearl baubles that he strung up with elastic and tied into models’ low-slung, middle-parted knots. “It started out that all the girls would be wearing these Perspex hats, but they’ve gone less,” the hair hero continued of the oversized toppers that only a few models, Stella Tennant and Kasia Struss among them, ended up carrying, not wearing, on the extra long catwalk in the Grand Palais. As a result, McKnight was charged with creating an easy style, “kind of like the girls did it themselves,” that he prepped with Frédéric Fekkai COIFF Lifting and Texturizing Spray for “a little bite” before fashioning a messy DIY bun. “Even if the story is soft, Karl always likes to add something graphic,” he pointed out of the subtle touch of hair jewelry—”and everyone loves a Chanel pearl.” Truth.
Kurt, Courtney, And Couture Lips, Backstage At Dries Van Noten
“The first idea Dries [Van Noten] showed me was a Kurt Cobain/Courtney Love image, so I thought about a lip,” Peter Philips said backstage at the designer’s Spring show. Not the burnt brick red that Love made famous during her early days in Hole—there were no remnants of red at all, in fact. “Not after Milan,” Philips joked, referencing the crimson color used at Prada that is still no doubt burned into most fashion insiders’ brains. Instead, he went with an eye-catching dusty magenta mouth. “It’s a bit more street,” Philips said of the color.
Giving skin a pale, satin finish, the face painter brushed lids with a green-gray wash of eye shadow “for definition,” before lining the inner rims with Chanel Le Crayon Khôl Intense Eye Pencil in Clair to open them up. Tracing the outline of pouts with its Le Crayon Levres Precision Lip Definer in #55 Fuchsia, Philips proceeded to apply the corresponding shade of Rouge Allure Velvet luminous matte lip color in #37 L’Exubérante. “The clothes are part couture and part grunge,” hairdresser Paul Hanlon elaborated. “So Peter’s doing the couture part; I’m doing the grunge part.”
Hanlon has made reimagining nineties styles something of a career calling card at this point, and his expertise was in full effect today as he referenced grunge-era heroines like Emma Balfour and the glossy pages of The Face in which she lived. Spritzing strands with a cocktail of Frédéric Fekkai Coif Oceanique Tousled Wave Spray and TIGI Bed Head Superstar Queen for a Day Thickening Spray to give manes a “stringy” quality, he glued on different colored extensions so it appeared blonde models had sections of bleach amid their golden locks. Then, raking TIGI Bed Head After-Party Smoothing Cream through lengths to create an even more lived-in feel, he proceeded to brush roots with a range of MAC Eyeshadows in shades of carbon blacks, dark browns, and grays. “A lot of people are on the nineties tip at the moment,” Hanlon admitted, “so it’s nice to find an identity.” It’s not the first time we’ve seen him break out this technique, although witnessing that kind of ingenuity never truly gets old—especially when the perfect song is playing in the background: Hanlon typically prefers to work to bass-pumping club beats, but queuing up College featuring Electric Youth’s “A Real Hero” from the Drive soundtrack added a certain cinematic specialness to the beauty moment.
Cut-And-Paste Makeup And “Aerodynamic” Hair, Backstage at Fendi
Peter Philips likes to think outside the box. The makeup artist known for his way around a perfect complexion and a gorgeous rose-petal pink or red lip is just as often referenced for mixing makeup mediums—an embroidered eyelash here, a precious gemstone brow there. Blame it on his art school education. At Fendi, it was the latter inclination that, er, stuck. “The idea was to use colors from the collection, and the best way to do that is to use the actual collection,” Philips said as he glued pre-cut fabric strips onto models’ lower eyelids.
“It was a bathing suit,” Philips explained of the neoprene swatches in peach, teal, royal blue, neon orange, tan, and yellow that he placed beneath the lash line in a three-part system: “There is black on the bottom, pointed outward,” he elaborated, followed by a color strip in the middle, and a shorter, brighter piece on the inner corner. “After rehearsal, I noticed the blue really worked,” Philips said of why most models ended up with the same royal blue center. Otherwise, faces were left bare to appear “more young and playful” and less “theatrical”—a directive that came right from Karl Lagerfeld, who dropped by to pay his respects. (“I didn’t want to interrupt you; I just wanted to say hello,” the designer said to Philips in passing). Never one to miss a nail opportunity, Philips added to the season’s neutral polish palette with a nude-salmon varnish, the result of Chanel Le Vernis Nail Lacquer in Ming, a warm, shimmering pink, mixed with white and a few drops of its Mimosa, a sunny yellow.
The same pastel colors could be spotted in a range of embellished headbands that Lagerfeld made for the show to accessorize Sam McKnight’s “sharp, aerodynamic” updos. “It’s not soaking-wet,” McKnight explained of what he ultimately deemed a “malleable, sea-wet” texture, the result of strands that had been prepped with Frederic Fekkai Marine Summer Hair Beach Waves and divided into four sections. Creating a flat bun in the back to remove excess weight, McKnight folded hair over from one side followed by the other, which was twisted and pinned down. Having left the top section free, McKnight ultimately rolled that backward, attaching it to the finished coif. “There’s about 40 pins in each girl,” he estimated, “so we’re not advising them to go to the airport anytime soon.” Zing!
Backstage At Proenza, Where Simple Beauty Is Anything But
Paul Hanlon was psyched backstage at Proenza Schouler. “This collection is quite exceptional—it’s beyond,” he effused. “These guys are always ahead of the pack.” This will be the hairstylist’s fifth season with Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, and at this point, he’s got the “Proenza girl” pegged—as well he should; Hanlon’s special brand of downtown cool has helped further define the designers’ woman. “She’s not a good girl, she’s a dangerous girl,” he offered—”whose hair looks like it needs a wash.”
With Kurt Cobain’s iconic, languid locks as his guide, Hanlon set to work on building a “vey stringy” texture, misting hair down with water and using his hands to layer Frédéric Fekkai’s Perfectly Luscious Curl Wave Activating Spray through the lengths. Every girl wore a stretchy latex, leather black cuff to elongate her neck, and rather than pull center-parted strands through the accessory, which he felt would look “too conceptual,” Hanlon had other plans. To give a “natural effect,” he braided under sections to remove extra weight and gathered hair into a ponytail, the base of which he spritzed with Fekkai’s Sheer Hold Hairspray. “We’re going to cut it right before they go out,” he explained of the elastic, tying mesh scarves on top of the cuffs and around the ponytail to further set the resulting indentation. Hanlon added a final “electric” element by using his fingers to rub the crown of the head for a frizzy, static effect, which created a further dichotomy between his contribution and the clothes. “You’ve got these incredibly expensive fabrics and hair that’s just whatever,” he said—a directive that came right from McCollough and Hernandez. “They’re really good at describing hair,” Hanlon attests. “I’m sure Lazaro was a hairdresser in a former life.”
Makeup artist Diane Kendal is a similarly longstanding member of team Proenza, and she too is well versed at channeling the house’s “urban feel,” which reliably calls for strong brows, smudged lids, and clean skin. Using MAC Studio Finish Concealer where needed, Kendal applied a nude-pink lipstick on the apples of the cheeks to get a sheer flush with a bit of sheen. Lower lash lines were then lined with its Eye Pencil in Coffee, which was also placed in the crease and blended over lids for a subtle stain. Skipping the mascara, Kendal’s finishing touch came via her signature “boyish” brows, which were filled in and brushed up. Even “real girl”-inspired beauty requires a few extra steps.
“Very French,” “So Chic”—And Approachable!—Beauty Backstage At Joseph Altuzarra
“I don’t want to create jealousy,” Tom Pecheux said backstage at Altuzarra, “but [Joseph's] definitely in my top three.” The famed face painter was so transfixed with the designer’s Spring collection, in fact, that recollections of the makeup test were a little fuzzy. “I don’t 100 percent remember [Joseph's] exact words [at the test] because I was hypnotized by his clothes,” Pecheux admitted. He did manage to retain a few key objectives, though. “We wanted the girls to be extremely sophisticated and perfect, but in a simple way.”
This translated into a classic Catherine Deneuve-meets-Yves Saint Laurent face treated with MAC Face and Body Foundation and emphasized with a “very French” accent in the form of a navy, not black, stroke of eyeliner. “It’s royal blue, and I think it’s so chic,” Pecheux clarified of MAC’s Technakhol Pencil in Auto-de-blu, which he drew along models’ upper lash lines. “No wings,” he reminded his team of the lines’ elongated ends, which he wanted to be straight rather than turned upward. “I didn’t want any retro feeling,” Pecheux explained.
When asked why minimalism is emerging as an early trend at the shows in New York, Pecheux noted that “you don’t want anything feeling too heavy, because life is anything but light right now,” referencing the American and French elections and the European financial crisis. “In a way, people want to do less.” Paul Hanlon was on a similar tip, as he became one of many voices to reference Helmut Newton’s special brand of nineties-era minimalism this week, which he mixed with clean, precise equestrian- and Japanese-inspired lines. “But it’s very simple,” the coiffing star stressed of the sleek side parts he prepped with Frédéric Fekkai Full Blown Volume Styling Whip, gathered into a low ponytail that he coated with its Sheer Hold Hairspray for a flat-lacquered effect, and wove into what he called a “half-bow,” not a bun. “A bun would’ve been a cop out.”
Hanlon concurred that requests for a certain kind of subdued beauty have definitely been bandied about by designers so far this season—which is a good thing for people looking for an entry point into the world of high fashion. “Sometimes, when there’s a reference in the look, it can be a bit untouchable; when it’s simple, it makes you believe you can be that woman”—a woman, it’s safe to say, everyone in attendance was envisioning themselves as by the time Altuzarra’s finale hit the runway.