Sunday 14th September was Vivienne Westwood’s Red Label SS15 catwalk show for London Fashion Week. I have never worked any of the Fashion Week shows before, so to be working at Vivienne Westwood on my first experience was absolutely amazing, even more so to be assisting Marian Newman as part of her team. The artistic freedom and spontaneity was breathtaking and made the whole experience just wonderfully fun. The team was amazing to work with and included Marian, Lyndsay Mcintosh, David Barton, Hollie Wakeham, Charlie Jepson and Jennie Nippard.
The Backstage Crew
Working wonders backstage were the nail, makeup and hair teams. Marian Newman was responsible for envisioning the “out of this world” nails for the event using M.A.C Polishes including her own new collaboration with M.A.C “Transformations”, Val Garland was responsible for the show stopping Makeup with the M.A.C PRO Team, and Mark Hampton and his TONI&GUY Hair Meet Wardrobe Team created gravity defying hair styles.
The Nails!
Marian has a wonderful vision with her creations and has a natural ability to “think outside of the box” and the Vivienne Westwood Red Label SS15 was certainly no exception. Whilst there was an overall “Look” considered for the models, each model had individually designed nails to compliment their hands, nails and overall appearance in the show.
These designs varied from Marian’s MAC Transformation polishes over black nails creating a punk mermaid feel, to individually hand painted gothic letters spelling “IRONY” across the finger nails. Of the nails I created that day, the “Irony” were by far my favourite as they were unlike anything I have ever had to produce before and I do love a challenge!
Fashion Show Nail Art Secrets
I’m a big fan of fun surprises, and I certainly had a pleasant surprise with the nail art tools used backstage at the Vivienne Westwood Red Label SS15 show. Marian’s bag of tricks included not only MAC Lacquers and nail art pens, but also Sharpie markers and little kiddie art blow pens! I felt decidedly naughty using Sharpie Markers on nails, but I loved the look so much, I’m going to introduce it away from the show!
The Makeup & Hair
Val Garland’s choice of makeup for the models was simply amazing. with a flawless, dewy natural skin, each model had an artistic accent feature including Russian Doll lips, marionette eyelashes or simple words and phrases intricately painted.
Mark Hampton created some sensational hair designs with structural “victory roll” style chignons and perfectly woven braids encompassing a windswept look and some gravity defying and perfectly executed “top knots”!
The MAC PRO and TONI&GUY Hair Meet Wardrobe did a wonderful job of the looks, and it was a joy to experience the hive of teamwork between the nails, hair and beauty teams all working on the models at once. It was also a surprisingly calm environment considering the level of constant activity and photographers all around.
The Models
I don’t think I have every been in a room before with so many beautiful women! After years of negativity surrounding the appearance of models in fashion shows, I can firmly say that all of the beautiful models looked simply and naturally perfect. I was very fortunate to spend some time with some of the lovely ladies and have some quick chats whilst creating the amazing nails.
Despite the pressures for these ladies to perform and look perfect, it was wonderful to see them smiling and laughing before the show had even taken place and the level of professionalism both in front and away from the cameras is a credit to them all.
VIVIENNE WESTWOOD RED LABEL SS15
Vivienne’s look for SS15 was a balance of rich, summery prints, and perfect flowing swathes of fabric. The three main influences behind the collection were ancient Greece and paganism, the work of artist Leon Bakst and french fashion of the 18th century.
The collection was beautifully presented with Parisian chokers teamed with flowing Grecian gowns, perfectly structured pieces, bold prints and as always a celebration of the female form in all it’s beauty. There was even a hint of pirate, which is only ever a good thing!
It’s A Wrap!
At the end of a very busy day, everyone (unless dashing to another show!) was able to take a breather for a moment and enjoy a well earned glass of bubbly!
I think I’ve just become a Fashion Week Freak, and feel hungry to do more now that I know the lay of the land. This came as a bit of a surprise as earlier this year I confessed when chatting with Marian, that I wasn’t sure it was something I really wanted to do. However, it was an amazing experience and I’m very appreciative to Marian & Lyndsay for the opportunity and look forward to working with them both in then future. xNx
