This was my favourite show so far. Backstage was frantic. Hair stylists, makeup artists and nail techs were literally pouncing on the twenty-four Marios Schwab models to give them a sculpted Film Noir look with a play on matte and shine. This was an integral part of the collection on show, which was inspired by the contrast of light and dark ‘Chiasroscuro‘.
It was difficult not to get high on the excitement and effort that filled the room, especially when four of the models arrived only 10mins before the start of the show. Right up to the very last moment, as the girls lined up, ready to walk out on to the the runway, the backstage team were on them like flies – fixing hair, powdering faces, touching up nails. It dawned on me at this point, that the audience outside who waited patiently, listening to the show music, chatting, tweeting and blogging from their seats were quite unaware of the frenzy behind those statuesque white catwalk screens.
Hair:
The hair was styled by using Clairol Colourseal Gloss and Frederik Fakkai mousse and set into waves by blow drying over large barrelled brushes and some very hot tongs. I did get whiffs of burning hair now and again as i was crawling under the table looking for toes to paint. Inspired by 40’s fashion, and style icons Rita Hayworth and Ingrid Bergman, the models hair was parted low on one side and curled under.

The frenzy continued as up to 5 or 6 people would work on one model to get her ready

last minute touches as the girls walk out

Makeup:
Makeup artist Val Garland created a look which tied in with the Film Noir style by giving models a feline smoky eye. With liquid liner on the eyelid and MAC Carbon shadow at the bottom, the eyes continued the theme of matte vs shine. Cheeks were super sculpted to give a deep structured finish.

Nails:
Keeping the significance of light and texture, OPI created nails that combined a matte and gloss finish. On finger nails we used a combination of either nude lacquer (OPI Passion), or a glossy high shine finish black (OPI Lady In Black). The dark lacquer was applied to acrylic tips and filed into long rounded points. It looked pretty fierce on the runway! Toes were painted black and glossy.

Applying acrylics and filing them into long points

Light matte nails

Dark glossy toes

Dark glossy pointy nails

The Show: