15 posts tagged "Versace"
Versace’s Yellow Diamond Is Abbey Lee’s Best Friend
Versace is on a bit of a tear at the moment. Following a smash-hit Spring show and record-breaking sales at the retail level with its first capsule collection for H&M (a second line is reportedly already in the works), the Italian house’s name is on everyone’s lips. It’s about to be on their wrists and the inner curvature of their necks, too: Versace has just launched Yellow Diamond, its latest fragrance offering. Billed as a “celebration of exquisite, timeless beauty,” the citron, pear sorbet, bergamot, orange blossom, mimosa, and amber woods eau is an homage to the rare gem of the same name and is housed in a glass flacon with a faceted, canary-tinged topper accordingly. Abbey Lee Kershaw, platinum blond fringe and all, plays muse to Donatella Versace in the perfume’s Mario Testino-lensed ad campaign—and this behind-the-scenes footage of the making of the fragrance’s promotional video, which is now showing here. And you know what? Seeing Kershaw writhe around, swirling her cornsilk strands just so, does in fact make the scent that much more appealing.
$50 for a 1 oz bottle, available at www.macys.com.
Leather And Fully-Loaded Lids, Backstage At Versace For H&M
The “flavor of Versace” was alive and well backstage at the house’s much-anticipated collection for H&M tonight in New York, according to makeup artist Tom Pecheux. “Donatella [Versace] wanted something fun, something glam that was very rock ‘n’ roll at the same time,” he explained of the beauty look, which translated to deep aubergine nails courtesy of Deborah Lippmann’s Dark Side of the Moon lacquer and the go-to makeup move of ladies who like to live hard: a black, smoky eye. “A black matte eye,” Pecheux confirmed of the full, elongated strokes of MAC Eye Shadow in Carbon he was sweeping over Natasha Poly’s lids, adding a metallic silver pigment on top from the upper lash line through the crease. Skin was kept dually matte with Estée Lauder’s Double Wear Stay-in-Place Makeup foundation and powder, which he applied to complexions that had been thoroughly prepped with Rodin Olio Lusso and a mixture of Estée Lauder’s DayWear Advanced Multi-Protection Anti-Oxidant Creme and its Idealist Even Skintone Illuminator. Bleached brows and a nude mouth slicked with MAC Studio Sculpt Concealer in NC35 provided an added edge. “It’s Versace today and Versace tomorrow,” Pecheux surmised of the result, before conversation turned to his plans for re-dyeing brows once the show was over. “Yeah, what are you going to do about that?” Poly asked the famed face painter. “The girls are going to have to choose between getting their eyebrows [back] and Prince,” he joked, referring to the post-presentation entertainment.
There was a hint of Versace yesterday, too. “The last show I did with Gianni [Versace] we used leather headbands,” coiffing star Orlando Pita explained of the impetus for the wide pieces of black leather that sat in a stack next to his station. After adding waist-grazing extensions to every model and razor-cutting the ends so they looked “jagged,” Pita lined up the center of each band near the brow line and, holding the ends in his hands, folded the fabric once behind the ears, then again, ensuring that the top lay flat before he tied a knot at the back of the head. “It’s Versace, so it has to look expensive and rock ‘n’ roll, but it’s H&M too, so I wanted to keep it young and cool.” Click here for more pictures.
“Very Donatella,” Backstage at Versace
The fifties and twenties may be getting a lot of play in Milan, but the reference points backstage at Versace weren’t bound by a specific decade. “It’s the Versace woman,” Redken creative consultant Guido Palau said matter-of-factly, which meant “gorgeous and rich” hair fit for its designer, Donatella Versace—”big, bouncy blow-outs,” more specifically. Adding extensions so that every model had hair that swept below her shoulders—a typically cropped Arizona Muse included—Palau prepped strands with Redken Aerate 08 All-Over Bodifying Cream Mousse and used a large round brush to dry hair, rolling sections into pin curls to set. Then, right before models hit the runway, the curls were let down for super-luxurious length with a bit of a soft bend through the ends.
“It’s very Donatella,” makeup artist Pat McGrath confirmed, crafting creamy, clear complexions before etching in a full, natural brow. Finishing touches came by way of mascara on top and bottom lashes, and a glossy coat of clear lip balm dabbed onto pouts for a hint of moisturized shine.
How To Get The Fall Flush
While we typically associate blush with Spring—when an onslaught of rosy pigments tend to hit shelves to help the pale masses ease their way out of winter and into the summer sun—the great cheek accentuator is making an uncharacteristic splash for Fall. As one of the trends we’ve noticed backstage this season, blush has come in a whole range of shades and, perhaps more interestingly, placements, providing an updated take on an age-old staple.
Most recently, models sported “a gorgeous rosy cheek” at Versace, where Pat McGrath finger blended Olay’s Simply Ageless moisture-rich formula from the apples of models’ cheeks toward their temples, only a day after making it the star product backstage at Prada. There, in accordance with Mrs. Prada’s “innocent glamor” directive, McGrath placed the rosy pigment on cheeks, lids and lips for a uniform flush.
Before the fashion pack headed across the pond, rouge went rogue on countless occasions in New York, too. At Marc Jacobs, François Nars dabbed his Cream Blush in Lokoune low and haphazardly to resemble “a grandmother who’s a bit eccentric.” The placement wasn’t all that dissimilar to Tom Pecheux’s at Ralph Lauren where the face painter intentionally went low to “get rid of the sporty look. This keeps it from being too girly,” he said of the layers of MAC Cosmetics blush in Fleur Power, a bright pink, and Esée Lauder Silky Powder Blush in Radiant Peach, a warm apricot, that he blended just above the outer corners of the mouth before painting on a bright red pout.
Perhaps our favorite flush thus far came at the hands of Gucci Westman. “I wanted you to really feel it-like it’s authentic,” the Revlon global artistic director said at Oscar de la Renta where she swirled the brand’s ColorBurst Lipsticks in Fuchsia and Candy Pink in a “big apple” on models’ cheeks. The best part? Her inspiration: Westman could not get the image of Björk on the Jean Paul Gaultier runway circa Fall 1994 out of her head when the raven-haired Icelandic beauty rocked a similar look. Love.
Lindsey Wixson Battles The Taylor Momsen Effect
Despite showcasing a “new type of glamour” with uncharacteristically clean, glowing makeup backstage at her Spring show, Donatella Versace is already back to glam, if the ad campaign for her brand’s latest fragrance, Vanitas, is any indication. The print visual for the lime, freesia, and Tahitian gardenia eau is making the rounds on the blogosphere this afternoon, as it’s fronted by catwalk queen Lindsey Wixson. Wearing an off-the-shoulder Versace dress, the 16-year-old model is a far cry from the fresh-faced, impeccably complexioned girl who walked the label’s show last month. Instead, she sports heavy black eye makeup, bleached brows, and middle-parted platinum blond hair (so hot for Spring 2011). Wixson looks gorgeous, as always, but that eye makeup really detracts from her major selling points, i.e., her flawless skin, pouty lips, and pillowlike cheeks. We actually noticed this during the shows; spotting Wixson in heavy eye makeup at Jean Paul Gaultier, Prada, and Roberto Cavalli, we found ourselves unable to control blurting out an audible “Why?!” Why would anyone want to muddle that visage with so much sooty liner and shadow when her bare-faced beauty is so stunning—as evidenced by her turns at Christopher Kane, Alexander McQueen, and, well, Versace? Take a gander at the collage we’ve assembled above and let us know if you agree.