“The inspiration for Roopa’s collection was Nepal- the different colours of the buildings, the textures of the roofs, the mandalas hanging in the streets,” Hair Director John Pulitano for Redken tells me ahead of Roopa’s Resort ’19 runway. “There’s a lot of colour and a lot of texture in the collection.”
With such a rich culture serving as inspiration for the show, John and his team opted to make the runway hair all about nature as well. Leaving heat styling tools untouched, John tells me they’re going for “total natural textures- we’re going to make their natural texture look amazing. I don’t want it to look “done,” I just want it to look like it happened all by itself.”
The models sported two different hairstyles, both with an emphasis on high-shine, glossy finishes, selected based on their natural hair texture. “We’ve got girls with really beautiful curly hair, so for that look we’ve used the Redken Curvaceous collection,” John tells me. “Curvaceous is made for curly hair.”
John explains that when styling curly hair you require moisture first, then hold. In this instance, Curl Refiner is used as the moisture, then CCC Curl Refresher Spray is applied for hold to maintain the definition of each individual curl.
“For the girls with the smooth, straighter hair, we’re doing the first three strands of a braid then tying it,” says John. “This gives you a really slight detail at the back and very soft, flowing hair at the front.”
Both looks are finished with Redken Diamond Oil to deliver intense shine without weighing the hair down. “We wanted the hair to still move or to look to wet,” says John, “but it still has that beautiful shine to it.”
The runway smokey eye, under the direction of Lancôme National Artistry Director Lara Srokowski, is edgier than we’re used to seeing at fashion week. “We’ve kind of pushing the boundaries of fashion week,” says Lara. “Fashion week is always about that “no makeup makeup” look. We have seen a lot of that on the runway, so I think it’s really nice to see a look on the runway that’s a bit more fun and edgy.”
Lancôme’s signature second skin serves as the base for said edgy elements, with a mixture of Ultra Wear and Custom Glow Drops creating the perfect glowing canvas. Lara finishes the skin with her all-time favourite fashion week trick- a hint of Advanced Génefique pressed onto the high planes of the face just before the models hit the runway.
The first of two eye looks is created by applying the Crayon Khol pencil over the entire eyelid and using the same pencil to smoke out the lower lash line. A glossy topcoat is applied to the eyelids immediately before the models take to the runway- any sooner and I’m told the eye makeup will begin to run.
The second, as Lara tells me, “is more about architectural eyeliner. There’s beautiful winged liner on top that meets the bottom liner and lots of lashes for that particular look.” This is created using the Mini Maxi eyeliner and completed with a slick of nude lip colour.
