FASHION Magazine

Ahh, Florida; the ‘50s Miami woman inspired the hair and makeup at Jonathan Saunders, where Paul Hanlon first blow-dried hair using Fekkai Strong Hold Mousse—“it gives a lot of guts to the hair,” he said—then parted it on the right and combed it into a low ponytail, tied with a basic black elastic. Then, using his fingers, he pulled bits out around the ears. “It gives it a feeling of being undone; a moment that’s just gone kind of wrong,” he said. “It’s a little bit disrupted and takes away from it looking so done.” The finishing touch: a brown bobby pin, its end tucked in, pinned just the way a girl would to get her hair off her face. Easy, not too messy, and not too clean.

Your browser does not support iframes.

The post LFW Livestream: Watch the Burberry Spring 2012 show live! appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Jardins d’Ashish, a collection chock-a-block with sequined sunflowers, daisies over checkerboard patterns, and the occasional brick wall, brought day two of London fashion week to a sunny start—even if it ended on a much (MUCH!) colder note. After the show, I headed backstage to meet Ashish Gupta, the designer behind Ashish. “I think was feeling quite romantic this season, and didn’t feel like I really needed that sense of humour,” he said. While the designer isn’t widely known in North America, his designs are pretty major across the pond; he’s launching his second Topshop collab next month. (Note to the Bay: bring it, bring it, bring it!)

I decided to kick off London Fashion Week by nearly falling…into my fabulous silver Mercedes Benz sedan. Thanks, British Fashion Council (and ouch, Louboutins)! Not a great start, but all was forgotten once I got to the Jena.Theo show, where an excited Hilary Alexander was already seated, wearing the cutest leopard-print sneakers. Loved the great big hair and red lips inspired by old-Hollywood glamour (fitting for a collection called Fatale).

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

In between moments spent gawking at the gorge male models and Beyonce‘s baby bump at Tuesday’s Lincoln Center J.Crew presentation, we (somehow!) found time to chat with Marissa Webb, head of women’s design for J.Crew, about what her inspiration was for Spring 2012. Here’s a cheat sheet.

1. Spring was really inspired from the conversations that her and her team had about travel. For Webb, a trip to Greece left her longing for the reflective greens and blues of the Mediterranean, the bright southern sun, and a nautical touch.

2. As for her own style? Webb’s planning a monochromatic look for spring (her outfit for the presentation was a kelly-green slouchy cashmere sweater and below-the-knee skirt) but she’ll be playing with proportions and a bold saturation of colour.

3. Her favourite part about designing for the J.Crew woman is giving women the opportunity to inject bits of personalized quirkiness—a sequin top, a bold colour—into classic looks that never go out of style.

View the entire spring collection »

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!

View the photo gallery »

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.”

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.

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.

View the photo gallery »

For his Spring 2012 presentation, Montreal’s fetish designer Denis Gagnon switched gears from his usual stoic strut to a playful prance. Creative mise-en-scene by master Dick Walsh in the ultra-luxe environs of Birks jewellery store saw exuberant smiling models whizzing through a rotating doorway and parading before the camera pit before dramatically shimmying up and down the aisles as if searching for a runaway Pomeranian. All the while, a vintage French soundtrack added a retro feel to the “Marlene Dietrich meets Laura Ashley” look. One model looked ready for a game of tennis in her white sneakers and strapless drop-waisted silk jumper that was belted just above the chest—tennis, that is, in Gagnon’s universe. Despite the show’s Holly Golightly-like optimism, Gagnon’s cutesy floral separates never strayed too from his familiar avant-garde vibe, which surfaced here and there in black and white dominatrix detailing. After the gender-bending finale where the bride and groom shared a sweet kiss, nobody argued that 11 a.m. was too early for Champagne!