Thursday 13 September 2012




The beauty buzz at the Spring shows thus far has been largely about a return to simplicity. With a few notable exceptions, it’s been all clean skin and unfussy hair that is without reference and purposely devoid of too much glamour (read: volume). But after Narciso Rodriguez’s winning show, now seems like a good time to point out that while all the minimalism may seem like a newfound, palate-cleansing idea, it does indeed have a reference point in Narciso Rodriguez, the longtime king of understated chic.

“It’s vintage Narciso—and Calvin,” Shiseido artistic director Dick Page pointed out of the phenomenon that he, too, was partaking in backstage at Rodriguez’s Spring show, with a bare face and a glossy lid. Page, who met Rodriguez when the latter was working at Calvin Klein, has been painting faces for the designer for years. “Without being super conceptual about it, we’re doing nothing,” he explained of the makeup look, which, to be fair, was as barebones as it gets. Skin was given a slight highlight with Shiseido’s Luminizing Satin Face Color in Soft Beam Gold, brows were brushed up and filled in using its Shimmering Cream Eye Color in Sable and Caviar, and lips and lids were coated in its Benefiance Full Correction Lip Treatment for a shiny flash of gloss. “It just felt right,” Page said. “The girls have to belong to the clothes and the collection; that’s the most important thing.”

Paul Hanlon’s center-parted strands, spritzed with By Byron Spirulina Hairspray, had “structure, sophistication, and shine,” which felt similarly right—a testament to the wunderkind’s skills as it was his first-ever Narciso show. “I’m very honored. I’m a big fan,” Hanlon said of the opportunity to replace Eugene Souleiman, who had been the third piece of the Rodriguez-Page trifecta for quite some time. “I’ve always been aware of who [Narciso's] woman is,” Hanlon confirmed, adding that to him, “the history is important.” So he dug into the archives a little bit, while adding his own updated touch in the form a hint of disheveledness achieved by “shaking” the hair out so it fell “very sporadically” before models hit the runway. Deborah Lippmann’s impeccably buffed nails finished the look—by which all other pared-down beauty looks this season will heretofore be judged.

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