29 posts tagged "James Kaliardos"
More Dungeons & Dragons, Less Kim Kardashian, Backstage At Rodarte
“A modern-medieval face” is what the tip sheet James Kaliardos was passing around to his team backstage at Rodarte said, but there was more to it than that, of course. “The collection feels Dungeons & Dragons to me, not Joan of Arc,” Kaliardos elaborated, referencing the austerity of old religious paintings and “getting rid of the Kim Kardashian look—forever.”
That meant skipping those familiar, heavily bronzed contours and focusing instead on a paled-out complexion that was treated with NARS Skin Optimal Brightening Concentrate and a light-handed application of its Sheer Glow Foundation just in the center of the face, “because once it gets on the cheeks, it actually looks like foundation,” according to Kaliardos. There wasn’t much visible product on the face at all, really, save for NARS’ Triple X Lip Gloss, which was swathed onto mouths and eyelids and applied through girls’ brows as well, including show-opener Jessica Stam’s. “Can you fix me,” Stam beseeched Kaliardos, who added a little fullness, too, at the model’s request.
Odile Gilbert was working off the proportions of Kate and Laura Mulleavy’s designs. “When they showed me the clothes, I thought [the girls] needed something long,” Gilbert said, referring to the hair, which she made “strict and straight” to accommodate a dragon earring cuff clipped onto models’ left ears. “It’s like the girls are shaved,” she explained, slicking strands with Kérastase Ciment Thermique for a pre-blow-dry polish, and dividing them into three sections: two in back—one hanging straight down over the other—and one in front, which was combed all the way over to one side and coated with its Elixir Ultime for added shine.
The finishing touch came from the most conceptual neutral nail we’ve seen this week. “It took 200 man-hours,” CND manicurist Michelle Huynh said of the three-dimensional polish-on-polish basketweave tips that showcased a blended base of its varnishes in Desert Suede and Frosting Cream. Nude, it turns out, doesn’t necessarily mean boring.
Individual Efforts, Backstage At DVF
James Kaliardos and Orlando Pita don’t have to look too far to find beauty inspiration at Diane von Furstenberg, where they often reference the designer herself—from her Studio 54 days to her more recent globe-trotting jaunts to the far reaches of Africa, India, and beyond. But for Spring, von Furstenberg wanted something else. “After looking at four different hair tests on four different girls, she turned around and said, ‘Can we do that?’” Pita recalled of the moment Diane decided to make the look more about the models’ individuality and less referential of her own.
“These girls already have these amazing gifts of beauty, so we just want to enhance them,” Pita said of strands that came in center-parted, side-parted, straight, and wavy iterations—all of which mixed seamlessly with von Furstenberg’s colorful, varied collection. There was one curly girl, too, which afforded Pita the unavoidable opportunity of paying homage to the woman behind the brand. “[Katryn Kruger] looks a little like Diane so we’re going to do her hair like [Diane's].”
Kaliardos went with a more uniform makeup look, which started with a base of MAC’s new-for-spring Mineralize Moisture Fluid Liquid Foundation, some slight contouring with its forthcoming Sculpting Cream in Pure Sculpture, and a “ruddy, healthy, punchy” cheek courtesy of its Blushcreme in Tea Petal. “We’re using the same palette, but tailoring the look a little bit for each girl,” he explained of the slightly smoked-out lower lash line that he intensified or pared down with a stroke of MAC’s Pro Chromagraphic Pencil in NC15/NW20 and its Eyeshadow in Antique and Espresso. “It has a slight Indian vibe,” Kaliardos admitted of the dark, elongated shape as he added a few whips of MAC Haute & Naughty Mascara on the top and bottom lash lines and affixed a few individual lashes on the outer corners—which only served to make models like Kasia Struss and Joan Smalls look that much more gorgeous in their own unique ways.
Down Under Stunners, Backstage At Rodarte
Before setting up his station with bottles of NARS Sheer Glow Foundation and a multitude of its bronzer and blush compacts backstage at Rodarte, James Kaliardos broke out the skincare. “Everyone’s skin is just disastrous right now,” the face painter proclaimed, soaking cotton pads with NARS’ new Makeup Cleansing Water and then slathering on “pretty much everything” from the brand’s skincare line to remedy models’ dry complexions—the unhappy result of four full days of shows. Once Kaliardos did start in with the makeup, though, there was no stopping him.
“These girls are in the Australian Outback and they’ve been caught in a dust storm,” he said, explaining Laura and Kate Mulleavy’s inspiration for their Fall collection, which manifested itself as a blend of bronze and pink pigments that Kaliardos applied with a heavy hand onto cheeks and lids. “I didn’t want it to be all bronzer and J. Lo,” he insisted; instead, the makeup artist opted for “Faye Dunaway cheeks,” which he sculpted by brushing on layer after layer of NARS Bronzer in Laguna. The shimmering insta-tan also made an appearance on lids, where it was brushed through the brows in the shape of an “arc.” Next Kaliardos dusted NARS Blush in Gaiety, a pure pink, from the crease toward the outer corners of eyes and then dotted its Blush in Madly onto the apples of cheeks, “geisha-style.” To open the eyes a bit, he pressed the white shade from NARS’ Eyeshadow Duo in Vent Glace into the inner corners. Lips were painted an opaque pink with its Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Bolero. If the makeup looked heavy, that was intentional. “More!” Kaliardos instructed his team. “Stronger!”
Hairstylist Odile Gilbert worked off a similar directive, re-creating a down under dust storm effect by varying the texture in her side-parted faux bobs. Prepping hair with Kérastase Mousse Volumactive, Gilbert created a shorter, curly side of the style, which she adorned with a series of gold pins, some of which had stars on them, and a longer, smoother side that went sans accessories. So how did Gilbert determine which girls got gold stars? “They decided,” she said of the designers. “They decide everything. They know what they want.”
Backstage At DVF, A Magical Mystery Tour Takes Shape
Getting the scoop backstage at Diane von Furstenberg’s Fall show was just as much a lesson in etymology as a tutorial in hair and makeup. “It’s more like a rendezvous as opposed to a meeting,” Orlando Pita said, trying to hone in on the beauty mood from von Furstenberg’s collection. “A meeting has expectations, whereas a rendezvous has more mystery,” the coiffing star explained. Add to this clandestine spirit a nod to the 1930′s and you’ve got a tight, glossy chignon on your hands, which Pita side-parted and coated with a combination of Phyto Professionals Wet Gel and its Phytolisse Finishing Serum as well as a mist of its Phytolaque Soie Hair Spray—”all shiny things,” Pita joked.
Makeup artist James Kaliardos revisited this sense of 1930′s realism with a similarly shiny gray eye, which he swept onto lids in a half-moon shape using a blend of MAC Powerpoint Eyeliner in Gray Utility topped with its Eyeshadow in Linger Softly before dabbing an all-purpose gloss on the center of the lid only for a “surprising” matte versus shiny texture difference. “[Diane] inspires mystery and power,” Kaliardos mused of the designer as he built up brows, contouring cheeks with MAC Pro Sculpting Cream in Pure Sculpture and adding highlights with its Cream Color Base in Pearl as he went. Finishing touches came by way of an exaggerated natural lip and a deep berry manicure, courtesy of Yuna Park using Dior Vernis Rouge Garçonne.
Fine Art Meets Teenage Dreams, Backstage At Rodarte
If it wasn’t clear from the sunflower-print opening looks that Laura and Kate Mulleavy sent out onto the runway, Vincent van Gogh and his most famous works partially inspired their Spring Rodarte collection and its complementary beauty look. “It’s Starry Night,” makeup artist James Kaliardos said backstage, referencing the Dutch post-impressionist master’s oil-on-canvas depiction of the view outside his sanitarium room window. “Bigger! Smokier!” Kaliardos told his army of face painters, who encased eyes in midnight blue accordingly, thanks to a precise layering effort of NARS’ new Soft Touch Shadow Pencil in Dark Rite, a shimmering navy, and its Eye Shadows in Night Flight, a deep ink, and Tropic, a glittery aqua. Cheeks were treated to a blended application of NARS Cream Blush in Penny Lane, a muted mauve that was also patted onto lips and topped with its Lip Gloss in Nano, a sheer purple, for a lavender-tinged nude effect.
The famous painting’s swirling stars and dark backdrop inspired nail guru Deborah Lippmann as well, who custom-mixed large pieces of silver and graphite sequins into her sparkling navy lacquer Lady Sings the Blues. “You’ve gotta amp it up for the girls,” Lippmann said, referring to the Mulleavys, who are particular about every single detail that goes into their shows, right down to the toes. “They didn’t want them to match the nail,” Lippmann mentioned, slicking on pedicures with two coats of her universal neutral varnish Fashion.
Odile Gilbert diverted from the art-history reference to add a retro forties element to the equation in the form of “sweet sixteen” hair that worked well with the designers’ series of fantasy, almost promlike dresses. “It’s sort of teenager-y,” Gilbert said, scrunching in Kérastase Volumactive Conditioning Mousse and its Double Force Hairspray for a tiny bit of texture. It wasn’t all youth and whimsy, though—the front row’s mean age not withstanding. Gilbert side-parted strands and then created a twisted wave that she secured with a hair comb. “That’s the part that’s sophisticated,” she said.