Fashion Week 2009 - Twist and Shout

The 2009 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week integrated the classic twist into several new hairstyles.

First up: Diego Da Silva at the Costello Tagliapietra show. Diego’s inspiration for this hairstyle falls in line with the majority of his work: classic with a twist. In his own words, the look is “50s elegance, chic and exquisitely luxurious… with a colorful pop.”

To achieve this difficult look, Diego and his stylists first created a braid in the shape of an oval directly onto the scalp on the back of the head. The braid was constructed tightly enough to serve as an anchor for the two French twists that Diego pinned to the braid. He then teased the hair on the top of the head to create volume, smoothed it back and pinned it into the French twists in the back.


For the final look, Diego took cans of aerosol hair color, something generally reserved for Halloween costumes, and sprayed a fine kaleidoscopic mist over the hair style. The colors he used included navy, light blue, red, silver, and white.





Just before the models walked onto the runway, Diego “broke” the look by pulling small strands of hair from the French twist to create bangs.

Work.

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Laurent Philippon...
“Severity,” “cold beauty,” and “mutiny” are three descriptions that designer Joseph Altuzarra wanted reflected in his show’s hairstyles. In order to translate these ideas into a hairstyle, Laurent produced the “flattest French twist ever created.” This hairstyle, according to Laurent, is not possible without great tension (and quite a bit of hairspray) in the hair to keep it smooth. The hair on the top of the head is collected into a tight unit, slicked back on the head, and pinned into the nape of the double French twist.























In the end, Laurent says the hairstyle looks like a girl with very short hair - sophisticated but cold.

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At Max Azria, Laurent went for a completely different twist...
Laurent’s inspiration for this look was the clothing line. He needed to create a hairstyle that reflected the line as accurately as possible; the clothes, according to Laurent, are sexy and elegant, chic and independent, dark but romantic. The pieces are seamless, so Laurent created a hairstyle without hard lines.

The first step to creating this hairstyle is to wet the head with “Prep,” a Bumble and Bumble liquid conditioner. This product is crucial during fashion week because the models are coming from other fashion shows all across the city; Prep brings their hair back to square one. Laurent likes to start the models out with Prep because, “…it’s basically water, infused with vitamins and minerals. So not only does it bring the hair to its natural state, but it also supplies the hair with nutrients it wouldn’t receive otherwise.”






After prepping the hair, Laurent braids the hair and dries it with a hot hair drier. He then “breaks” the braids and opens them to reveal wavy hair. He then twists the hair on the top of the head, and then separately twists the hair toward the neck; he then uses Bumble and Bumble wax to mold the two twists together into a floral look.

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BCBG: Tag-Team Action - Lisa Butler on makeup, Laurent Philippon on hair

Designer Max Azria’s BCBG line this year was very poised and naturally feminine, yet sprinkled with spontaneity. Makeup artist Lisa Butler says, “The look ultimately came to life in the test shoot when we were prompted with a story: we were told to create the look of a ballerina that didn’t have time to finish getting ready.”

In terms of makeup, Lisa reflected the line with an air of easy, clean, natural femininity. She begins by moisturizing the skin, then matching the skin tone with a concealer to dot out the red areas around the nose and any blemishes on the skin. Applying moisturizer before the concealer helps to create a smooth, consistent skin tone. For the eyes, Lisa mixed red and gold eye shadow into the socket of the eye and onto the upper lid. She used a beige pencil with a slight shimmer along the inside of the upper and lower lids to give the eyes an edge.

Lisa and her team then lightly scribbled lip liner onto the lips. She explains, “You shouldn’t see where the lip color begins and ends. By making the lips look seamless, you integrate them with the rest of the face for an ultimate feeling of unity.”



















As for the rest of the face, Lisa mixed various shades of brown, lilac, and red to create a customized skin color to provide the most natural coverage for each individual model.


























In this third twisted variety, hair stylist Laurent Philippon reflected the half-ready ballerina look in a modern, impulsive chignon, a popular au courante style of bun. To achieve the look, Laurent first prepped the hair with styling lotion to keep the hair manageable and pliant, while retaining its natural moisture.

After prepping the hair with styling lotion, Laurent and his team of hair stylists then put the hair in a tight, low ponytail. Laurent adds, “I only use my hands with this hair style… a hair brush would make it look too polished and refined, whereas this look requires a touch of casual nonchalance.”