Natural California beauty glows at Tom Ford’s L.A. show
“Shaggable” was the buzz word used by designer Tom Ford to describe the beauty look at his fall 2015 fashion show in Los Angeles on Friday.
Makeup artist Mary Greenwell and hair stylist Sam McKnight primped the 30 models, including Karlie Kloss, Daphne Groeneveld, Joan Smalls and Tom Ford ad campaign face Gigi Hadid along with her younger sister Bella Hadid — marking the first time that the siblings, who hail from Malibu, walked a fashion show runway together.
Though the designer’s signature sex appeal was apparent in the smoky-eyed makeup, a light-handed touch by Greenwell kept the look more natural, in keeping with the California location and making for some wearable looks.
“It’s almost like the look is slept-in,” said Greenwell. “That’s what it’s all about. There’s nothing hard about it. Nothing severe. There’s no black. It’s all about a dreamy soft, brown eye.”
Eyes highlighted in earthy hues popped against a clean matte complexion. Cheekbones were contoured with Tom Ford Shade & Illuminate, while lips were de-emphasized with a mix of nude concealer and Tom Ford Lip Color Shine in Bare. Greenwell created strong, defined brows with Tom Ford Brow Sculptor; then eyes were lined with Tom Ford Eye Defining Pencil in Espresso, and several coats of Tom Ford Extreme Mascara were applied to lashes. Shadows from the Tom Ford Eye Color Quad in Cocoa Mirage were smudged into a smoky eye. For a luminous finishing touch, Ford had the idea of applying his eponymous Lip Color in Deep Mink along the brow bones and lower lash line.
In keeping with the neutral theme, nails were painted with Tom Ford Nail Lacquer in a barely there shade, Toasted Sugar.
Hair was all about bed-head braids that McKnight described as the convergence of a “modernized Tippi Hedren-inspired, slightly voluminous updo with an Ali MacGraw side braid that was kind of a ‘70s Hollywood moment, but we sexed it up and made the braid big and fat.”
McKnight pinned in low braid extensions to match each model’s hair tone and then applied Oribe Dry Texturizing Spray and L’Oreal Professional Tecni Art volumizing mousse to the hair on top, blow-drying it back off the face to create body and structure for a French twist over the braid. The braid was looped to the side in back and pinned. Sebastian Shaper hair spray set the look. Yet nothing was too perfect.
“Destroy them a little bit more; they look great,” Ford directed McKnight, as he walked backstage for a final hair and makeup check.
“I’ve been waiting for that for two hours,” said McKnight with apparent relief. “We’ll mess them up a little before they go on. A little bit like the [models] did it themselves this morning and shoved a few more pins in it and … voilà!”
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