FASHION Magazine

FASHION’s team shares the colour and drama from this season’s four-city fashion tour. First up, New York!

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The fashion flock have all but crossed the pond for London fashion week, but we’ve still got more amazing snaps from outside the New York shows! We’ll resume our style snaps in Milan, but in the meantime, here’s a peek at some last looks from the Big Apple.

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Like everyone else in the fashionsphere, we heart Marc. Here’s 5 reasons why we’re crushing over his Spring 2012 show:

The primary brights continue, as we spot tons of red (in form of titian-tressed Grace Coddington, Taylor Tomasi-Hill, and Anna Wintour‘s dress), yellow (in form of Tim Blanks‘ Prada bananas), and blue as in well, look at that wall!

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After a slight subway snafu that left me and my fashion week other-half, Globe & Mail fashion scribe Amy Verner, racing down Hudson Street (thank heavens we both wore flats) with no time to spare, we huffed and puffed and took our seats as the lights dimmed on Ralph Lauren’s spring show. While I looked like a haggard mess, Ralph’s girls were the picture of ladylike perfection—clad in cloche hats, beaded gowns in buttercup yellow, mint, and blush, silky wide leg trousers, and fine-knit cable cardigans—all channelling their inner Daisy Buchanan for a nostalgic New York runway experience.

The master of cool, disheveled hair, Paul Hanlon described the look backstage at Proenza Schouler ‘50s-inspired, with a nod to Elvis. “But it’s not too literal because it can obviously look a bit retro, a little bit tacky, so we had to be very careful in the way that we did it.” In Hanlon’s mind, this is a girl who’s borrowed her dad’s pomade and tried to recreate his style but with her own spin on it. Prepping the hair with Fekkai Ocean Wave Spray to create a dry, matte texture, he then applied Fekkai Coiff Forming Wax through the hairline. “Then we’re using a blow-dryer and melting the wax into the hair. That way when it cools down it sets, so it has a lot of hold in the hair.” Employing a men’s barbering comb, the sides were raked up for that ‘50s touch with the volume on top kept low. “I don’t want it to look like a big quiff.” In the back, transparent elastic was sewn into the hair with a tapestry needle to prevent the length from hanging all the way down. Fekkai Sheer Hold Hairspray and a blow-dryer melted the raw shape into place. “We wanted something tougher and cooler but at the same time quite chic. It’s a continuation of what we did with the hair last season, this idea of very organic, weathered hair.”

“It’s Michael’s default bronze position,” said Dick Page of the tawny faces he was creating backstage at Kors to underscore the designer’s safari-themed collection. His team paired the glowing umber with a strong signature Page brow, little bits of gold highlights around the eyes, a touch of brown mascara, and lip colour provided by Shiseido Perfect Rouge in “Caramel” to “unify the tone across the board.” Each girl was brought to Page for any additional bronzing, which he called “the final toast.”

The chunky, matted thick braid created by Orlando Pita had a bit more of a narrative. “These people are on a trip through Africa,” he said. “They have nothing with them to groom themselves with so they take their shoelaces and tie their hair up in braids in the back. Then they try to neaten themselves up, so in the front, they scrape their hair back.” Using a combination of Bumble and Bumble Surf Spray, T3 Refresh Volumizing Dry Shampoo, and American Crew Defining Paste to build piece-y texture, he wove hair into two fishtail braids, intertwining leather strings into the plaits, and then joined them together to look like one. “It’s not easy to achieve at home but that’s always my goal, always,” he said. “I don’t want somebody to do these hairdos at home and then I’m out of job.”

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Michael Kors must have been mourning the end of LOST, designing his spring collection for a sexy-, dishevelled-haired hunter-gatherer. Suede utility shorts, tasselled macramé, jagged leather satchels, and caftans in beautiful shades of amber, sienna, and khaki green were accented with coloured python and animal print; it was fitting for a far-off safari but just as relevant for the wilds of the concrete jungle.

After 12+ hours and an obscene amount of shows yesterday, my mind is whirling with all the delicious trends we have to look forward to for Spring. Here’s the top 5 from Day 5:

While the trends for next spring are being dreamed up for next spring inside Lincoln Center and across Chelsea, we’re spotting quite a few outside as well. In today’s snaps especially, we can’t help but notice all the vibrant neon green amazingness, as well all the spring and fall Prada. Can you count ’em?

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Makeup artist James Kaliardos was given strict orders by the Mulleavy sisters backstage at Rodarte, with Vincent Van Gogh’s painting  Starry Night as the point of inspiration. “The girls really wanted this dark, dark intense eye,” he said. Beginning with Nars’ Dark Rite Soft Touch Shadow Pencil (launching in the spring) and creating a circular shape, he then layered it with eyeshadow in “Night Flight,” a dense midnight blue with a sheen, and for additional sparkle, shadow in “Tropic” on top. “A smoky edge is important,” he said. “It makes [the look] softer and not so hard and theatrical.” To keep the eyes looking big, Larger Than Life Long-Wear Eyeliner in “Rue Bonaparte” was drawn on the waterlines. Cream Blush in “Penny Lane” enhanced cheeks as well as lips, which also received a helping of lipgloss in “Nana,” a purple-y pink hue. Working with the same reference, manicurist Deborah Lippmann used “Lady Sings the Blues,” a glittery navy, on short, rounded nails. “But they wanted it to feel really like a starry night so we’ve added tons of extra large particles of glitter,” she revealed.

After grabbing a $10 raw vegan green juice (only in New York!) from the Chelsea Market to keep up my strength for all the hustle and bustle, I made my way over to the Alice + Olivia presentation to brush up on what all the girly partygoers will inevitably be wearing come spring. Kourtney Kardashian clearly had the same idea, as I saw the pint-sized reality star surveying the selection. The elaborate faux garden party set the stage for Betty Draper–inspired vintage cropped pants, juicy-hued full skirts, retro square-buckle belts, floral palazzo pants, and heaps of sequins. Feeling extra ladylike, I tried to snag a freebie Butter London manicure at the Aldo Salon Pop-Up Shop but, sadly, the manicurist was on break.