As another year of Australian Fashion Week comes to a close, beautydirectory talks to the hair, make-up, nail and tan directors to discover the top trends seen during the week...
MAKE-UP
Skin
From hair to make-up, beauty looks at MBFWA were stripped back to give a raw, natural feel. There has been a big call for less. Stepping back in the way that we approach skin. When I say that, I mean literally great moisturiser or a great toner and then a bit of spot concealer here and there wherever you need it, and that’s it. Really enjoying seeing a bit of skin. The real girl underneath the make-up,” explains make-up director James Molloy. Maybelline New York make-up director Nigel Stanislaus adds, It’s not about perfection and glamour – women want to look a bit more raw. Bare-faced. Foundation seems to be quite a vulgar word this season, nobody wants to do foundation.”
Eyes
Statement eyeshadow, fake lashes and dramatic brows took a backstage this Fashion Week. While there was a bit of liquid and the use of gloss to reflect light, it was deliberate clumpy lashes that wereas the main focus for eyes during the week. I think it goes along with the idea that nothing should be too perfect because it feels a bit boring or like we’ve seen it so often. I think a clumpy lash has a bit more attitude thant a polished refined pretty lash,” says Molloy.
When it came to brows, the look was mostly just about brushing up the girl’s natural brow without adding too much colour or shape to it: bringing out the reality of the eyebrow – nothing that’s too manicured,” explains Molloy.
Lips
Similar to the eyes, lips also were forgotten in favour of the skin. Lips are starting to be paired back a little bit to bring the skin forward,” says The Academy of Make-up make-up director Emma Smith. A sentiment agreed on by Molloy: I haven’t seen any lips. I was in London and Paris and I didn’t really see any lips there either. I think it’s a real skin season.”
HAIR
Raw
While previous years may have seen an abundance of heavily-styled hairdos and Victoria’s Secret-esque hair, this year saw a return to editorial-style hair of raw textures and undone” looks. I’m seeing a lot more disheveled hair, bit looser, really undone. Even if it’s an updo, it’s like you pulled your hair with your hand and held it on top of your head and somehow you got it to stay there. People don’t want to look too done,” says Goldwell StyleSign hair director Sharon Blain. Cloud Nine hair director Lauren McCowan adds, It’s that really raw texture. There’s a difference between not doing your hair and it looking raw and doing it and it looking raw - it’s very hard to get that effortless hair look. It’s just always that really beautiful, soft, raw, webby hair.”
Sewing
It might not be a new method, but this year saw a lot of hair directors using the sewing method to secure any updos. It has been around for quite a while, but it’s certainly very popular at Fashion Week and it’s becoming more and more popular because it gives security to the hair so you don’t have to worry about clothing changes. By sewing the hair, you can keep looseness and texture into it. Just hold your hair in place, get a needle and cotton and thread it through the hair and tie it off so it’s secure and let your hair out and you’ve got this amazing messy textured look,” explains ghd hair director Tracey Hughes.
Contrasting textures and block colours
Both Australian designers and stylists like to have a bit of fun with textures. This year saw a range of hairstyles that mixed and matched varying textures. There’s been a lot of clashing of textures this week - you have wet looks with dry ends,” says McCowan. But while there may be varying textures in hair styles, the colour is staying to just the one shade. We’re seeing the death of the ombre – that’s been taken over with some more block colour,” reveals Blain.
Fringes
When the likes of Alice McCall, Emma Mulholland and Ellery are all doing it - you know it’s set to be a big trend. They come and go in fashionable circles, but this year’s Fashion Week saw fringes cropping up everywhere. Fringes are going off – it’s the new thing! This real 60s thing is big, you can see that trend coming through with fashion. The fringed look has a real 60s vibe but we don’t want it to look 60s – we want a modern fringe. It breaks up, it’s a bit loose – it’s not that hard core fringe that we saw in the past,” says Blain.
NAILS
Last year, it was all about bold nails and nail art - this year, these two trends had all but disappeared. Unless it’s theatrical nails, we’re just all one solid colour. We’ve been doing a lot of solid white, which is probably the most common colour. Navy, berry and metallics are huge. We’ve only done one show with brights and one neon collection, and that’s it for colour,” says essie nail director Ali Magliveras. nail director Cherie Pollard adds, a lot of dark colours – whether it be accents of dark or darker for the entire surface of the nail.”
TAN
In Australia, we’re renowned for a deep, bronzed tan, but this year’s Fashion Week saw designers stepping away from tradition. "St.Tropez this year is about keeping the model's natural skin tone and just enhancing it to be more of an even tone rather than changing their colour. Yes we are using the St.Tropez Instant Tan and that's giving them colour, but it's more giving them colour to even out any patches or redness in the skin so they have that nice healthy look. It's a summery glow rather than being a bronzed tan look,” says tan director Michael Brown. director Kim Oliver noticed the same thing, adding The trend for tans is pale, porcelain translucent skin, almost just a hint of colour. There’s something there, but it’s not enough to make a description – it’s minimalist. What we seem to be doing for all our shows, including swimwear, is that really light hint of a colour as though they’ve just popped out for the day and got a little bit of non-contact sun.”
Read all the show reports here:
Aurelio Costarella
Alex Perry
Kahlo
Ellery
Strateas.Carlucci
By Johnny
Desert Designs
Gail Sorronda
Phoenix Keating
Ginger & Smart
Michael Lo Sordo
Leroy Nguyen
We Are Handsome
Cameo
Maticevski
Serpent & The Swan
Christopher Esber
Galanni
Haryono Setiadi
Dion Lee II
Suboo
Emma Mulholland
Jayson Brunsdon
Duvenage
Bianca Spender
Swarovski
Alice McCall
Hayley Elsaesser
Macgraw
Ae'lkemi
Zhivago
Aje