City Pulse

New York Girls…Like Us

By Jan Lee

Source: Filmmagic.com

Sabyasachi dished up long and flowing robe-like blouses and tent-like dresses in burnt orange, military green and cream. The political symbolism and golden ethnic patterns adorning the pieces truly represented the international set for his Spring 2008 show. Not the usual international set, but specifically the one right here in New York City.

Embracing the worldliness of the collection, Key make-up artist and M.A.C‘s Executive Director of Makeup Artistry Gordon Espinet focused on individual models and did a little something different with each girl. First, he used base products, like M.A.C Mineralize Skin Finish and moisturizer, to make the face look radiant. On some models he then added a rich matte burgundy lip (M.A.C lipstick in Night Violet), while others had TechniKohl in Graphite Black lining the inside of the eye or a heavy brow. A handful of models just had mascara. “It’s not about uniformity. It’s about cool New York girls dressed in these really cool clothes,” he says in a cool Trinidadian lilt. These are our kind of girls. A couple of the models’ sported traditional Indian henna patterns and a pattern “that went from being a henna thing to a tattoo thing” on their arms painted with M.A.C Chromacake in a burgundy color. No polish was used on the nails in order to make the henna standout.

Lead hairstylist Sandra Yu fixes model’s Rapunzel-esque wig.

The hair went right along with the cool, NY, individuality vibe. “New York is the place with all diversity, different looks of girls, different nationalities, different color hair. It’s what hair is right now,” says Sandra Yu, lead hairstylist. “All different hairstyles is what you see in the streets.” To give the hair a “real” finish, they ditched the shiny look and utilized each girls’ natural texture with Rusk Gutsy and Primitive Clay products. “They’re own personalities come through with the clothing.”

Originally published September 2007