Mercedes-Benz Spring '10 Fashion Week NYC: Yigal Azrouël

Aveda's Antoinette Beenders backstage at Yigal Azrouel

Aveda's Antoinette Beenders backstage at Yigal Azrouel

Yigal Azrouël showed his spring '10 collection at the tents at Bryant Park with models sporting hairstyles created by Aveda vice president global creative director Antoinette Beenders, who described the looks as "wet-a-porter." "They're punky London looks but with a New York style," she told me.

To achieve the look, a messy knot at the nape of the neck with a texturized top and slicked back sides, Beenders first brushed the hair into four sections, spritzing the bottom section of hair with water and keeping ends dry. Next, she applied a generous amount of Aveda Light Elements Texturizing Creme (launching in January) into the wet half of the hair to add texture, light hold and minimize flyaways, followed by Brilliant Humectant Pomade for shine and moisture, leaving the ends dry. She then tied the bottom section of the hair into a tight ponytail, straightening the entire tail in sections with a flat iron. She repeated the steps with the side sections of hair, then slicked them back and criss-crossed the right and left sections of hair over the existing ponytail, wrapping them around the elastic string. She then secured a clear elastic band over the entire section to form a larger ponytail, and ironed the new pieces of hair. Finally, she spritzed the top section of hair with water, leaving the ends dry, raked the hair back with Light Elements Texturizing Creme and Brilliant Humectant Pomade, and pulled all of the hair back into one ponytail, once again flat-ironing the entire pony.

Bobbi Brown was on hand to create the makeup look, which she described as a "matte, downtown, smudgy, smoky eye." To get the effect she wanted, Brown applied a soft pencil to the eye lid and rim, smudging it with a brush for an eye shadow effect, layering powder on top and applying an ample amount of mascara. Foundation and concealer and matte, nude lips that matched each girl's skin tone completed the look.

Nails, courtesy of Haven spa in Manhattan, were painted with Essie Chinchilly.

Bobbi Brown

Bobbi Brown

Yigal Azrouel's spring '10 show

Yigal Azrouel's spring '10 show