The rich culture of the Latin world, flamenco dancers, ceramics, the Spanish Mantilla and Frida Kahlo’s infamous milkmaid braids was the inspiration for the Naeem Khan Spring 2014 runway collection, incorporating delicate lace, red and white transparent gowns and beaded embroidery.
When choosing the perfect red nail polish, lead manicurist Michelle Saunders met up with the designer with a handful of different shades, indecisive about which color to choose. Khan held up each Essie shade to the garments and decided on Essie A-List, an award-winning, classic, creamy red. “The great thing about red polish is that you can wear year round,” Saunders said.
The hair for the show was elegant and polished playing off of the collection and inspiration. Hollywood stylist Sally Hershberger gave the girls Frida Kahlo’s milkmaid braids playing up the cultural feel.
To create the look, Hershberger added extensions to the model’s hair to thicken the braids and add length to create the braids. She prepped the hair with Sally Hershberger Hyper Hydration Super Keratin Spray to smooth create smooth strands then created two pigtails right about the neck, securing them with elastics. When constructing the style, Hershberger crisscrossed the braids on top of the head then pinning the ends underneath the hair on either side. Finishing the look, she used Sally Hersberger Major Body to tame unwanted flyways.
“The starting point of the inspiration was Frida Kahlo, but we didn’t want the makeup to be a literal interpretation,” NARS Director of Global Artistry James Boehmer says. “Instead, eyes are softly defined yet translucent; the lips are the focal point with a faded and diffused berry shade, complementing the collection.” He describes the look as being less finished using NARS Sheer Glow Foundation for moisturized, translucent skin, NARS Lola Lola Single Eyeshadow, Corfu Cream Eyeshadow and a dab of Triple X Lip Gloss on the lashine, giving the eyes a defined shape with a “halo effect”. Finally, the lips had a chapped inspired look with a raspberry hue created with Hyde Park Satin Lip Pencil applied to the center of the lips, dabbed loose powder on the edges and finished with NARS Yu Satin Lip Pencil smudged to the outer lip.
- Cristina Goodwin