Golden Girls, Backstage at Dries Van Noten

Peter Philips is known as the master of makeup invention, and when it came to the eyelashes at Dries Van Noten, he certainly spun standard string into beauty gold. After evening out complexions with foundation and powdering the skin, he dusted Chanel Soft Touch Eyeshadow in Ivory (a pearl tone with a hint of shimmer) to provide lids with “a bit of depth.” Then he added sparkle to lashes via metallic thread. “You can never find a gold mascara that does this, and [false] lashes look too drag queen-y,” Philips explained. After snipping the delicate cord into small pieces with a pair of manicuring scissors and dotting models’ natural fringe with eyelash glue, he placed the tinsel-like fibers individually with a pair of tweezers. To frame the face and make the eyebrows uniform, Philips traced slightly outside arches using the Crayon Sourcils Sculpting Eyebrow Pencil in a shade slightly darker than each girl’s hair color; taking away the curve and replacing it with an elongated and angular shape. Lips were toned down with a touch of base just before showtime.

Sharp side parts inspired by Tamara de Lempicka (an art deco painter with Polish roots) and Loulou de la Falaise (Yves Saint Laurent’s muse) were gilded with a mix of hair wax and gold leaf. Hairstylist Sam McKnight washed hair with Pantene Pro-V Aqua Light Shampoo so that it was free of product or shine that would detract from the graphic stripe. He used a steel tail comb to divide the hair from left to right, then worked Sebastian Mousse Forte through the top section and brushed strands behind the ears with a Mason Pearson. A net was pressed over the crown, hit with a blow-dryer, and set with hairspray. The length was left “raw” and misted with water to revive any natural texture. The end result was a look that would make King Midas proud.

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Sarah Brucker honored during start of Milwaukee Fashion Week

Sarah Brucker, the popular Milwaukee makeup artist and business owner who was killed in a fire in Delafield in August was honored on Sunday night, September 22nd.

36-year-old Brucker was found dead inside her Delafield home on August 7th following a five-alarm fire.

On Sunday night, Brucker was honored during the start of Milwaukee’s Fashion Week. The lights dimmed for a runway show that kicked off the city’s first-ever Fashion Week.

But on what was called a “monumental night,” one of Fashion Week’s biggest advocates was missing.

“She basically just wanted a stronger fashion community,” Jenny Kuehneman said.

Brucker was one of five women who was recognized for the impact they had on the local fashion community.

“I guess mostly I`m just extremely sad that she`s not here because this event and this movement is something that she has been pioneering and working towards,” Kuehneman said.

Kuehneman says Brucker always felt Milwaukee’s fashion scene was on the brink of something bigger.

“She was like ‘it`s a small Chicago. It`s a small New York’ and she definitely felt like it was something that had the potential to be what it is,” Kuehneman said.

Brucker was not only well known for makeup artistry, she also co-owned Blush salons in the Third Ward and Mequon with Jhoesy Leon.

Additionally, Brucker’s personal style served as inspiration for Sunday’s runway show.

“She was classic and bubbly and fun and that`s what we`re going for. It`s that classic look, the buns, the bright lips,” Wren Solares said.

At 36 years old, Brucker’s death is being felt throughout Milwaukee’s small fashion scene, but they say this event is her legacy.

“She created a movement and that movement is gonna continue for years to come,” Solares said.

Brucker had two children, who were not home at the time of the incident. The fire remains under investigation.

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London’s designers blow your socks off… again

London’s creative fashion credentials are trotted out so frequently it’s become something of a cliché to declare that the colleges here shape talent like nowhere else. But the last day of London Fashion Week was proof that there is life in the old truism yet as small-scale affairs with budgets to match managed to blow the socks off those assembled.

At Simone Rocha, black and white prevailed, with highlights courtesy of a mossy silk slip dress and a voluminous forest green coat, while champagne jacquard was textured with bubbles. Pearls threaded through the collection – as twisted rope chokers, appliquéd as flat adornment on necklines and around pockets on clean tailoring and full prom skirts.

Backstage, Rocha explained that the collection was inspired by Connemara in her native Ireland: “A beautiful place, the textures and colours so invoking, so personal. That’s where all the feeling came from.”

Meadham Kirchhoff’s deconstructed collection was a meditation along similar lines, although the duo’s take was more unsettling. Double-breasted blazers with shiny golden buttons worn with miniskirts were seemingly bourgeois ensembles, but in fact were gradually chopped up and dismembered to become a backless halter-neck blazer with suspended sleeves and exposed raw hems.

Benjamin Meadham and Edward Kirchhoff know how to create a narrative through dramatic presentation, indeed theirs are highly anticipated by those who appreciate somewhat off-colour alternatives. But the clothes themselves are masterfully made, too – pleated skirts, for example, were inset with lace panels and embellished with golden and pearl beads.

Ryan Lo, of Fashion East, has this talent too – the candyfloss fluff and fur of previous seasons was present today, but his focus was instead directed at youthful, lace skater-girl dresses and separates, intarsia knits of strawberries and farmyard animals for “girls refusing to grow up to become ladies”.

Ashley Williams referenced the Americana of the eighties with a Riviera theme courtesy of “dream boat” illustrations printed on to leather jackets and swimwear, and “S.O.S” and “FIN” lace logos on track pants and jackets, and fuzzy toy sharks were turned into plush clutch bags.

Claire Barrow’s hand-painted and printed leather pieces were this season adorned with galactic motifs of planets, moons and stars as well as horoscope symbols. Perhaps Barrow suffered from being sandwiched by two energised presentations, but the downbeat mood of the collection meant it remained grounded rather than taking off.

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Backstage At Michael Kors: Perfectly Imperfect

The models at Michael Kors may have appeared bronzed and glowing (as they so often do), but makeup artist Dick Page was thinking in black and white, wanting to “just see tone and structure in the face.” While there were forties elements to the collection this season, Page didn’t proceed with a red lip, which would push the look strongly in the wrong direction, he explained. Instead, he evened the skin with a light layer of base and added warmth back in with Michael Kors Sporty Bronze Powder in Glow dusted along the hairline from temple to temple in a “horseshoe” shape. Page accented cheeks with Sexy Bronze Powder in Flush, a slightly rosier shade. To camouflage any darkness around the eyes, he encircled them with MAC Eye Shadow in Brule on fair-skinned models, and a brown-gold hue for deeper complexions. “It cancels shadows almost like concealer, but [the pigment] is so [sheer] you don’t read it as makeup,” he explained. After coating lashes with brown mascara, Page created a stain via layering: first applying a lip balm, painting on Glam Lip Lacquer in Dame (a berry hue) with a brush, blotting, putting on another coat of balm, adding one more coat of color, blotting, and sheering it out with a final slick of balm. (Phew!) To diffuse the edges of the lipstick, he rimmed the mouth with the same shadow used on the eyes. “The girl looks very healthy, alive, and animated because Michael really likes that kind of energy—so [we did] that in the most precise and discreet way possible,” concluded Page.

As for the tousled updos created by hair pro Orlando Pita, where models were meant to look as if they’d just had “a romp,” he began by randomly curling sections with a one-inch curling iron to add a bend to the hair. For the undone, chunky texture, he worked Schwarzkopf Osis+ Dust It (a mattifying powder) into strands with his fingers, then twisted them into a loose chignon—being sure to leave loads of pieces out around the face, as the designer requested “bits flying,” and set with hairspray. When asked how he skirts the balance between romantically rumpled and plain old disheveled, Pita said, “You have to go over-messy for the runway or a photograph; the film and light polish everything up.” I think it’s safe to say I won’t have any trouble nailing that part.

New York fashion week: J Crew unveils its spring/summer 2014 collection

If asked to share the secret recipe that has catapulted J Crew to the forefront of the American retail scene, creative director Jenna Lyons might smile and demur. But at Tuesday morning's New York fashion week presentation of the J Crew spring/summer 2014 collection, the blueprint was there for all to see: take a little high fashion and a little low, add sparkle and whimsy with accessories, and finish off with a pop of lip colour straight out of Lyons' own makeup bag.

The collection offered a teaser of what's to come when J Crew opens its first British flagship store on Regent Street in November. For spring/summer 2014, shoppers can look forward to watercolour floral-printed neoprene skirts, paint-splattered camo trousers and sweet eyelet dresses. The store already has British fans – Francesca Burns, fashion editor at British Vogue, tweeted her approval of the trousers, comparing them to a pair Kate Moss wore in a Juergen Teller shoot for the magazine. The models also wore shoes by British designer Sophia Webster. Black-and-white tasselled patent-leather pumps, Madras-print sandals and neon-pink stilettos all featured. Having a British shoe designer to work with "felt like a really nice connection because we are opening in London," said Tom Mora, head of women's design, as a scrum of guests jostled for a better Instagram shot of the models behind him.

But for the rest of spring's ready-to-wear collection, J Crew didn't have Britain in mind. "I was thinking about the duality of beach culture," said Mora. Hints of the California coast (surfers, neoprene, tropical florals) squared off with more formal elements drawn from the Venice Lido, circa 1900. Full-skirted sundresses, linen blazers, nautical stripes were the result. "The combination and contrast of all these pieces together felt really fresh," Mora added.

J Crew's USP is fashion nous mixed with accessibility – a relatively basic flowered T-shirt with high-waisted denim shorts, or a single-breasted navy blue blazer worn cape-style. It's not the way the average shopper will do it, but chances are strong that said shopper, like the most label-conscious members of the fashion crowd, will find something to love.

With its London launches looming (the brand will also open a menswear store on bespoke-tailoring heartland Lamb's Conduit Street in mid-October), Mora has spent plenty of time thinking about the differences between the UK and US customer. "The UK customer wants the sophisticated pieces from the collection," he said. "It's a good match because these are all things we're already doing on a day-to-day basis." In November, we'll find out just how compatible it really is.

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Visits the Barbie Dreamhouse Experience

If you were a little girl at one point in your life, you probably played with Barbie dolls. And if you were like me, you had a collection of Barbie dolls, Barbie cars, Barbie clothes, and maybe even a pink Barbie Dreamhouse with a working elevator. I eventually outgrew my Barbie obsession, but some of the lessons in styling, grooming, and beauty stuck with me. Which is why during my vacation this week at home in south Florida, I HAD to stop by the newly built Barbie Dreamhouse Experience, an interactive life-size version of the one I had as a child. And boy, was it a trip.

Located in the Sawgrass Mills Mall in Sunrise, Florida, the Barbie Dreamhouse Experience is several thousand square feet of pink princess fantasy. Upon buying tickets, guests are escorted through each room of Barbie’s house: her kitchen, bedroom, balcony, closet, and then her airplane! In each room, there are interactive activities for little kids, like baking virtual cupcakes or trying on virtual outfits from Barbie’s closet. The focus is primarily on Barbie's online webisodes (raise your hand if you knew those existed) but, sadly, much of the technology wasn't quite working: Buttons were sluggish to respond, moving parts were broken, and odd software update messages popped up on screens. Not that the kids seemed to notice—they were busy searching for glitter in each room, a hide-and-seek game that takes place throughout the experience.

I had the most fun in Barbie’s bathroom, where guests can watch one of her dolphins take a shower or pop its head out of the pink toilet (silly Ken connected the plumbing to the fish tank!), or brush Barbie’s hair, or watch a Barbie webisode—again—in her bathroom mirror. Projected pictures of Chanel No. 5 perfume, Chanel eye shadow, lipsticks, and polish bounced around on the floor for kids to jump on and chase. (Not sure what message that sends. Also, I never would have pegged Barbie for a Chanel girl, considering she's had her own lines with M.A.C. and Stila in the past.) Jars of Hard Candy eye shadow, pink soap, pink rollers, pink loofahs, pink toilet paper, and Barbie bubble bath—all for sale in the gift store—fill the bathroom cabinets.

If you fork over additional money for VIP tickets, the experience ends with a fashion show, where children get their makeup done (smoky blue eyes were a hit among my group) and pick a few sparkly accessories before walking the Barbie runway. This was the only part of the experience that felt true to the Barbie brand: There were no computers, screens, or moving parts—just little girls using their imagination and creativity.

After a while, I came to the realization that the Barbie on display here is not the doll I knew as a child. That Barbie wasn't wide-eyed and squeaky-voiced cartoon character viewed on the screen of a computer. She was a physical object—a rather chic physical object, as I recall. As for this Barbie, the animated version, she's as forgettable as the cheap fade of her life-size Dreamhouse. If you’re looking for a true learning experience, you’re better off handing your child a real doll.

Cover those dark circles

With patience and practice, here's how you can do it.

With stress and bad lifestyle habits taking a toll on our skin, applying makeup has literally become a 'face-saving' exercise for most of us. This holds especially true when it comes to hiding those dark circles under the eyes. Here are some tricks to help you with the perfect 'cover-up'.

Choose the right product

This is the most important step — a concealer that is too dark will emphasise your dark circle, making it look darker. On the other hand, a shade that is too light will end up looking unnatural and violet-gray. So, go for one that is closest to your natural skin tone. Sonic Sarwate, a senior makeup artist with a leading cosmetic brand, says, "Buy a palette with more than three shades — it will allow you to mix and match till you get the perfect shade for your skin." Concealers in yellow shades that are a bit lighter than your natural skin tone help hide dark circles that are purple-blue.

Remove the puffiness

"Take two cold spoons and hold them over your eyes. It will combat unwanted puffiness," says Ritu Singh Tanwar, an aesthetician. You can also keep cold tea bags on your eyelids and get the same effect.

Hydrate, moisturise

This is a must, say experts. Generously apply a good-quality, intensely hydrating eye cream. This will enable the concealer to glide smoothly over the under-eye skin.

Prime your skin

Apply a primer before the foundation — it will help hold the concealer better. Sonic says the foundation will even out your skin tone. Also, you will end up using less concealer that way.

Tap it on

The cardinal rule is, never pull or stretch the skin near your eyes. Once your eyes are primed, use your ring finger to tap on six to eight tiny dots of concealer underneath. Tap repeatedly, from the inner corner of your eyes to the outer corner. Ritu says,"The layer of concealer should blend and not be thick." Do not cover the entire area around the eyes. It should be applied in a crescent moon shape just to hide the dark area.

Less is more

This is the golden rule while applying any makeup. Never overdo. Too much under-eye makeup can give a tired, worn-out look. If you have crow's feet, avoid applying too much concealer. It will make the lines more prominent.

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