Red hair, glitter makeup and the model as muse: 4 beauty trends from New York Fashion Week

Date February 14, 2014

best models new york fashion week fall 2014 — Photography by Peter Stigter

Some of New York Fashion Week’s best beauty moments have come from the models themselves—here are the faces that stood out backstage this season.

Seeing Redheads
Redheads always stand out but they’ve been extra visible this week. We saw tomato ketchup-redhead Natalie Westling at Vera Wang, Prabal Gurung, Marc by Marc Jacobs and Marc Jacobs—the 17-year-old skater told us she’d dyed it for the spring Marc Jacobs campaign, which she appears in alongside Miley Cyrus. (The red was covered up at the actual Marc Jacobs show, though, under one of the pale, “off-colour” wigs dyed to resemble an “old-lady rinse” by colourist Victoria Hunter of Whittemore Salon in New York, and cut by Guido Palau).

Backstage at Prabal Gurung, titian-haired Québécoise newcomer Sophie Touchet said she was “stressed but it’s a good stressed.” (In her first New York season, she also walked at Rag & Bone, Suno and Richard Chai.) Hairstylist Paul Hanlon parted the hair in the centre and tucked it behind the ears with a low, pulled-out ponytail—inspired by Prabal’s travel photographs of women in Nepal.

Street Style at DKNY
Trying to encapsulate the vibrant street culture of the “NY” part of DKNY, the show was cast with a fairly even split of professional models and non-model DJs, artists, musicians, actors and club kids who wore a slightly more polished version of whatever their own beauty look is. Hairstylist Eugene Souleiman evaluated a Japanese guy with bright yellow hair and declared he needed no styling at all, his hair was perfect the way it was. “I’m looking at who they are and what they project, and going with what they would do to their hair,” he said. “It makes my job more interesting.” Artist Sara Powell stood out with her pastel blue braids, while rapper Angel Haze’s long dark hair faded out into lavender ombre.

’90s Supers
At Michael Kors, the model board revealed some blasts from the past: show opener Carolyn Murphy, Frankie Rayder, Jacquetta Wheeler, Liisa Winkler and Karen Elson (who also walked at Diane Von Furstenberg and Donna Karan, and sat front row at Alexander Wang and Anna Sui). Winkler bemoaned the fact that she was one of the first to arrive. “None of my friends from the ’90s are here yet.” A little later, Murphy sat down in the hair chair, exchanged kisses with Michael Kors who swept through and told her she looked extra-tanned, and was dismayed to see hairstylist Orlando Pita was doing messy braided updos with tons of dry shampoo and teasing. “I knew I shouldn’t have washed my hair,” she said.

Pastel Glitter Dreams at Rodarte
Last fall, Chloe Nørgaard stood out at Rodarte with her “tie-dyed” primary coloured hair, and this season her long, long waves were tinted in shades of pink and lilac, which meshed perfectly with the childlike/fantasy beauty inspiration described by the Mulleavy sisters. Hairstylist Odile Gilbert added long extensions, put them in two braids, sprayed on lots of leave-in conditioner and let it dry, then shook out the braids to create natural wave and texture. She twisted a piece away from the side of the face and secured it with a butterfly barrette made by the designers. Makeup artist James Kaliardos’ directive was about nostalgia and fairytale makeup with an ’80s bent—which meant glitter. He used a shimmery Fall 2014 Nars eyeshadow duo in Dolomites: a reddish brown and lavender which were applied full strength over the whole lid and up into the eyebrows, contoured sparkly blush, and brown or pink metallic lips, made by mixing lipstick with a whole lot of glitter. There was also lip liner, foundation, concealer and powder. “It’s sort of hitting Kate and Laura and my childhood remembrances of beauty,” said Kaliardos. “Before grunge ruined it.”