MAC at NY Spring ‘08 Mercedes Benz Fashion Week - Days 1 and 2

Ok, here is my confession: I have never been a huge fashion week follower - to me there is so much about it that is totally fantasy, and just really doesn’t apply much to me and to my lifestyle. (Meryl Streep is going to rap my knuckles) Oh how I wish for a jetsetting socialite lifestyle on occasion, but in general, its just not really me. But I watch from the outside, more as a hobbyist than as a professional, and inevitably there is a tip or a trick or a trend to be spotted - but my overall impression (and maybe this is because I am getting older) is that things don’t really change that much, and just about everything is in style these days.

So my favorite eye-shadow-maker, MAC Cosmetics, is sending out a daily style report from the tents. These are pretty interesting and are just an overview of the makeup looks they are creating each day for each show they are involved with. Again, the overall impression? Everything is in style. Nude makeup? Yes. Metallic makeup? Yes Bright fantasy makeup? Yes. Retro makeup? Uh huh. What is not in style? I am not sure. Apparently not eyebrows for the spring (thank God). Anyway, if you are interested in reading more, here are the MAC observations, and a few associated images, from Days 1 and 2 of Fashion Week:

Day 1:

Y & KEI
Most seasons, clothing trends work with the makeup trends, each coordinating and flattering the other. Not so Spring ‘08; Y & Kei did their modern hippie dresses, but makeup artist Polly Osmond worked against it. Her faces here were shiny on the cheek and brow bones, with taupe shiny gloss on eyes, and no mascara or discernible brow enhancement. The lips had a slightly bitten look courtesy of M.A.C’s Café Matte Lipstick. ‘We’ve seen so much brow, lash and lip for fall,° Osmond declared, “now it’s time for a return to iridescence. And beiges and browns are classics, not trendy.” Long live no-makeup makeup!

JASON WU
The nudie movement definitely hit Jason Wu’s spring face — but only the top half. Romy Soleimani did no brows, an iridescent cheek, with just a little grey around the eyes and a little bit of mascara. But it was all about a Big Mouth — a very big mouth.
The lips were absolutely matte in the shade of electric pumpkin. Call it The Great Pumpkin effect. If an orange creamsicle
froze on your lips, it would look like this.

NICOLE MILLER
James Kaliardos was having a Twiggy moment for Nicole Miller’s spring show. “I’m feeling Twiggy 1972,” he said, applying mascara on the top and bottom of a model’s eyes — with no liner. While the clothes were chic and contemporary with rushes of goldenrod, the makeup stayed in the pinkberry family, with pale blush high on the cheekbone and a berry stain on the lip. “It’s all about putting a concentration of mascara at the root on the top and bottom of the eye,” he explained, “then you
comb it out to the ends.” Welcome back, Twiggy.

L.A.M.B
Polly Osmond and Gwen Stefani have this in common; a love of ladies from the fifties and sixties. “We both love that smoky vampy eye,” said Osmond, who did Stefani’s makeup for her runway walk, too. So for L.A.M,B spring, Osmond did what she called a “3-0 smoky grey eye” that put charcoal powder at the crease and above the lashes. The face was finished with a very sheer beige lip — and long white shiny fingernails.

Day 2:

JOSH GOOT
For Aussie-turned-New Yorker Josh Goot’s Azzedine-referenced spring collection, Phillipe Chansel made the makeup disappear. The models’ faces looked absolutely nude — ‘but that’s because the makeup is really well blended,” he explained.
Using M.A.C’s Micron ized Airbrush Foundation without the actual airbrush achieved the look - while MA•C Up Erase took down the lip colour. The cheeks had the most subtle hint of contour and highlight — but the real action was at the nape of the neck. There, Chansel dabbed silver, white, pink or gold powder patches behind the girls’ high sleek ponytails. “To catch the spotlight as they walk,” was the reason — a new novel placement for makeup? Necks could be the new eyes.

GREY ANT
Makeup artist Tiffany Johnston had an epiphany at Grey Ant’s Spring ‘08 show: plastic skin. ‘it has a little reflection,” she described. So it’s not dewy — and it’s not matte, either.” Using a tiny amount of neutral lip gel and cheek highlight, she then obliterated her near-natural look with doll eyes straight out of a Keene painting; one set of models had blacked-out eyes; the other electric blue. “I cut off the false lashes at the ends and packed mascara on. creating a feeling of paper mache’ she described. All in all, the spring look at Grey Ant was about texture — a mix of real and fake — and virtually no colour.

BAND OF OUTSIDERS
Band of Outsiders appropriately nautical spring show aboard a ship at Chelsea Piers inspired makeup artist Romy Soleimani to break out the navy eyeliner. Ships ahoy! Indigo is always a sure sign of spring. The actual base makeup was carefully applied and this season’s first trend we’ve spotted; pale pale contouring of cheeks, for that ravenously hollow but still healthy look, worked well with naval chic.