FASHION Magazine

They are the magicians, confidants, best friends and troubleshooters who can whip up a custom nail colour on demand or secure an updo into place after a last-minute wardrobe change. From Gwyneth to Beyoncé, these are the hair, nails and makeup pros who work with Hollywood’s elite. Meet some of the beauty pros celebrities rely […]

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See the Ostwald Helgason Aldo Rise collection »

Susanne Ostwald and Ingvar Helgason are staring intently at a swatch of woven raffia. Ostwald thumbs its subtle texture and pauses. “It’s missing emotion,” she says. Helgason nods. “It’s missing that fuzzy, fun, happiness…,” he trails off. “We need something warm, something unexpected.” Aldo women’s footwear designer Jackie Yermus produces a rougher weave of white with natural-toned raffia. Ostwald’s eyes widen. “This one is very emotional,” she says, laying it beside a pebbled orange, a grainy sky-blue and a shiny nude, also under consideration. “Yes,” she says, “they are very happy together!” She and Helgason exchange high-fives.

It’s hard not to fall in love with Ostwald and Helgason—the charming duo behind breakout fashion label Ostwald Helgason. For one thing, high-fives and happy talk are de rigueur when they’re around, as are discussions about balloon animals (the inspiration behind their spring collection) and Little Shop of Horrors (a previous jumping-off point). If there were such a thing as a fashion prom, they’d be a shoe-in for Cutest Couple (sorry, Kimye).

Photography by Carlo Mendoza

Photography by Greg Kesser

Photography by Carlo Mendoza

Photography by Richard Lam

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“This was the very first photo I took from the spring season. Sometimes it takes a couple of days to feel like you’re seeing something new that inspires you, but when I saw Kate coming up the steps, I was like, ‘Oh my God, I need to take this picture right away.’ I love how […]

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See the Spring 2014 beauty looks »

As bare-bones beauty dominates the runways, a few holdouts are making sure fantasy lives on.

It was a casual remark, meant to highlight the exceptional craftsmanship behind the Old Hollywood-inspired, ultra-glamorous sets he devised for the Armani Privé Fall 2013 Couture show. But hairstylist Orlando Pita’s words backstage in Paris last summer offered an astute commentary on the state of runway beauty as a whole: “Now that John Galliano and Alexander McQueen are gone from the business, a new guard has created a kind of couture that relates to the street,” he said. “It was always about fantasy; that’s gone for now.”

The role of the backstage beauty team is to complete the full translation from the designer’s mind; it helps refine the woman, or the character, who would wear the clothes. Certain designers stuck to their fantasy-driven existence for spring, with all the over-the-top beauty fanfare that goes with it (Gareth Pugh’s alien-inspired eyebrow discs; Thom Browne’s frizzy-haired, smudged-makeup insane asylum patients; Vivienne Westwood’s similarly unnerved walking dead iteration). However, if you take a look at some of the most anticipated shows of the past few seasons, the resonance of Pita’s statement becomes much louder. From Proenza Schouler, Alexander Wang and The Row to Burberry Prorsum, Christopher Kane, Balmain and Isabel Marant, there has been an overwhelming reliance on minimal makeup and easy, undone hair that was most certainly not in the phrasebooks of Galliano or McQueen—or Thierry Mugler and Azzedine Alaïa, for that matter.

Nail art’s not quite dead, but the baroque period is definitely over, as these five fresh-from-the-runways trends show. We’re in a minimalist phase, embracing subtle detailing, a more subdued palette and considerably less sparkle.

Jump to: CANDY-COATED | WHITEOUT | FRENCH REDUX | MOON PHASE | SPARKLE & SHINE

See the spring statement photo shoot »

Whether it’s a wordy print, an arty pattern or an accessory that will get them talking, make a heartfelt statement this spring. Nude male model: optional.

In an age when it is socially unacceptable to have loads of free time, Olivia Stren wonders why being busy has become the ultimate symbol of success.

“How are you?” a barista asked me recently. “Super busy?” He was presumably too busy frothing almond milk for another customer to wait for my answer.

“Yeah. SO busy. Crazed!” I replied. And lied. I wasn’t crazed that day (at least not from busyness). Granted, I was busy feeling guilty, a low-grade panic about not being busy enough. But I was hardly going to shame myself by revealing the vacancy of my calendar to my barista (especially as he was clearly too busy to care). I fetched my latte and proceeded to check my iPhone with a socially acceptable sigh of tension and frustration. (See George Costanza in Seinfeld: “When you look annoyed all the time, people think that you’re busy.”) Today, being busy is code for being important, successful and valid, and admitting to not being busy is admitting to hopeless loserdom.

See this season’s top flankers »

When I was 14, a friend and her family picked me up to go to a play. When I got into the car, her normally reticent 18-year-old (and thus super-intriguing) brother said to me: “Wow, you smell amazing.” I had recently received my first bottle of Issey Miyake’s L’Eau d’Issey as a birthday request—I liked the idea of a watery smell and felt a Japanese designer was terribly sophisticated—and was taken with spraying it into the air above my head and twirling under the mist.

This encounter cemented my decades-long love for the ’90s classic (and for being told I smell great), during which time I collected many of the variations of it that came and went on the local department store counter like colourful siblings in town for a short visit. On a given day, I’d pick a version to match my mood: Summer of 2005 or 2008 if it was warm outside, A Drop of Cloud (2009) if I was feeling pensive, Fleur de Bois (2010) to cultivate a much-needed air of mystery. Somewhere along the way, I actually stopped wearing the original, since each new one offered what I loved about it along with a new and exciting twist.

When you move an ocean away for a new life and a new job in a new country, you might expect to be the odd accent out in a weekly status meeting, or take an occasional ribbing for your use of words like “sweater” and “tank top” instead of “jumper” and “vest.” Unless, of course, you’re a Canadian working at The Outnet.

While the British e-tailer’s staff is remarkably international, one can’t help but notice that Canadians occupy some key positions.

Mary Chaim is the New York-based head of merchandise planning, leading a team that works directly with designers to source end-of-season runs and create exclusive pieces for the site. Rebecca Tay is the editor responsible for all written communication, and social media writer Malwina Gudowska looks after The Outnet’s social media platforms. Tay and Gudowska are London residents and FASHION alumnae—Tay was FASHION’s western editor from 2007 to 2010, while Gudowska was FASHION’s first Alberta editor, from 2006 to 2009. Toronto-born art director Jane Gorley, who recently left The Outnet to join a London-based start-up, helped shape the original creative vision for the site, including its design and custom content. And if you question president Stephanie Phair about her nationality, she’ll whip out her Canadian passport. “I was born in Mexico and grew up in London, but my father is from Chatham, Ont.,” she says. Phair has been with the firm since it launched with two employees in 2009.

Known most for her role as Robin Scherbatsky—the token Canuck on TV’s How I Met Your Mother—Vancouver’s Cobie Smulders is one of those stars who comes off as a natural on and off the camera. Photographed during an emotional time when her widely successful sitcom was wrapping up its last episode (airing March 31), Smulders cleared her just-as busy film schedule (she has a couple of blockbusters on her plate, including a star turn in Captain America: The Winter Soldier) to pose for FASHION Magazine’s April 2014 issue and chat with features editor, Elio Iannacci. Here is a sneak peek at some of the things she talked about in her cover story—which arrives on newsstands on March 17.