The trends at New York fashion week that took us by surprise.
We know what we like when it comes to hair and make-up and we're guessing you do too. For us, we know we heart a glossy blow dry, a bit of volume and flawless and highlighted skin. But, we surprised ourselves just how much we enjoyed a few looks outside of our comfort zones in New York.
Frizzy Hair
Frizz is usually a massive 'no, no' for us. In fact we spend a great deal of time trying to tame the stuff with regular permanent blow-dries at Hershesons. But the fluffy halo of frizz that took shape at the hands of Paul Hanlon at Philip Lim was undoubtedly beautiful. 'It’s light and floaty hair,' explained Hanlon. 'I’m calling it "electric hair".' Here’s what he did:
Hair was prepped with TRESemmé24 Hour Body Amplifying Mousse, £5.50, and blow-dried.
Hanlon then brushed it through and blasted it with TRESemmé Instant Refresh Dry Shampoo, £5.25. 'The dry shampoo gives the hair some guts,' he said.
Next up, the stylist misted one-inch sections of hair with TRESemmé Volume & Lift Hairspray, £2.68, backcombed it and then crimped lightly.
Lastly, using his hands Hanlon coaxed the hair into a high ponytail just below the crown (so it could be seen from the front) and began knotting the length – as you would a shoelace – until he was left with a bun that he could pin in place.
Teamed with flawlessly highlighted skin - courtesy of make-up artist Francelle Daly and NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer, £29, and Jubilation Dual-Intensity Blush (out spring 2015) – it was really quite beautiful. We loved it so much we’re reconsidering that next permanent blow-dry.
Sweaty Skin
Granted ‘sweaty skin’ doesn’t sound too appealing but so far it’s an overriding trend from the SS15 shows – literally everyone is in on the sweaty scene. But we’re not talking falling rivulets of moisture here; instead it’s highly reflective, glossy skin which is surprisingly wearable.
At Alexander Wang make-up artist Diane Kendal prepped skin with NARSSkin Luminous Moisture Cream, £41, and NARSSkin Optimal Brightening Concentrate, £50, and then highlighted with the left side of the new NARS Dual-Intensity Blush in Craving (out spring 2015). And at Thakoon, Kendal relied on her trusty NARS Liquid Highlighter in Orgasm, £22.50, and gloss to give a mirror-like slickness to lids and skin. We. Love. This.
Unwashed Hair
Well this is the kind of thing we’re normally loathe to own up to but if the style makers in New York have anything to do with it we’ll be sporting our unwashed hair with pride next season. At Prabal Gurung stylist Paul Hanlon told us, 'The hair looks as though the girls have been running, or at the gym, it has that kind of texture. It’s weathered, not clean. Many shows now are doing this day-old hair.'
Unwashed hair – not to be confused with actual dirty hair – is more a feel of texture. It just shouldn’t feel clean and silky. Hanlon used TRESemmé 24 Hour Body Amplifying Mousse, £5.50, to gives the roots some texture before tapping TRESemmé 24 Hour Body Sky High Plumping Powder, £5.50, onto the tail of the pony. But that’s not the extent of it, Redken’s Guido over at Alexander Wang also cited sweaty hair.
Embellished Brows
Brows have been a contentious subject for a while now; the Scouse brow, the pencilled brow, the tattooed brow, not since the advent of lipstick has there been such polarised feelings about something on our face. So how do you feel about embellished brows? For our part, we’re quite taken with them. While backstage at Badgley Mischka we spotted make-up artist Tom Pecheux turning brows a shade of pastel. 'They wanted me to bleach the brows but, I’ll be honest, I don’t like it. Now coloured brows, that’s much more fun,' he explained. A mix of cream and powder were mixed together in soft blue, pink, lavender and violet hues and brushed through the brows. But we really fell in love at Rodarte where make-up artist James Kaliardos teamed brow piercings with raw skin and very little make-up. 'I just wanted them to look cool and I don’t think you get much cooler than this,' he told us.
