The opulent St. Regis hotel hosted Jason Wu's spring '10 show, which was definitely a hot ticket this season, no small thanks to Michelle Obama, who wore one of his dresses to the inaugural ball. The collection featured hooks, wraps and transparent texture, elements that lead hairstylist for Aveda Odile Gilbert incorporated into the hairstyle, a sculpted, voluminous chignon with a textured, sheer black ribbon woven into the hair. "We wanted to make something very 'today' that is fresh and spontaneous," Gilbert says.
To get the look, Gilbert blow-dried the hair straight using Aveda Smooth Infusion Style-Prep Smoother and Smooth Infusion Glossing Straightener, then separated the hair into front and back sections and pulled the back section into a tight ponytail. Next, she tied a 7-foot long piece of 6-inch wide black horse hair ribbon around the ponytail, securing each end to the head on either side of the pony with bobby pins that were the same color as the hair. After misting the entire head with Air Control Hair Spray, Gilbert wove the front section of hair back in smaller, 1-inch pieces over the ribbon, creating loops with the ribbon and securing them against the head with bobby pins, then repeated the process with the ponytail in small sections. Finally, she frayed the ends of the ribbon, leaving them exposed, and sprayed Air Control Hair Spray for finish and hold.
Meanwhile, lead makeup artist for M.A.C Lucia Peroni created a softly contoured eye using bisque tones, then applied crushed metal pigment to the lid and smudged a chocolate brown shade through the lashes at the top and bottom of the eye, eschewing mascara. The look featured a natural matte face, with foundation and concealer where needed, and three different lip colors on the models—a classic red shade, a burgundy tone and a smoky purple hue.