“Untouched” Makeup And Easy Hair, Backstage At Narciso Rodriguez
February 13, 2013
Narciso Rodriguez may increasingly be experimenting with color in his collections, but the complementary hair and makeup looks at his shows seem to be getting more and more stripped down in the process. Citing the success of Spring’s fresh, transparent face, Shiseido artistic director Dick Page confirmed that Rodriguez was keen on a repeat appearance. “I went to look at the clothes, and Narciso said, ‘I really loved how the girls looked last season. Can we do that again?’ I said sure. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
“It’s almost untouched,” Page elaborated of the nearly nude faces. “For a lot of women, it’s not enough,” he joked of the light-handed approach for which he swiped lids with the brown shadow from Shiseido’s limited-edition Eye Color Bar, while giving brows a “sketch of color” and definition with its Eyebrow Styling Compact. As he dabbed lips with its forthcoming Perfect Rouge lipstick in Harmony, a dark crimson, he asked, “So if you didn’t see that happen, you wouldn’t think she was wearing lipstick, right?” In fact, every model looked as though she was sporting a slightly tinted balm rather than full-on color. Sticking to the theme of simplicity, cheeks got a customized dusting of Shiseido’s Luminizing Satin Face Color while nails were kept short, round, and varnished with two coats of Deborah Lippmann’s ultra-sheer nude polish in Naked.
Paul Hanlon also picked up where he left off for Fall, bringing a certain ease to the hair as Rodriguez’s newly installed lead hairstylist. Creating imperfect center parts, Hanlon gave models smoothing blow-outs before applying a mist of hair spray to help slick strands behind the ears. Lengths were given a slight bend to create movement, but the key was to not do too much, thus letting Rodriguez’s traditionally understated clothes make the statement.
—Aja Mangum