Nancy Lichtenstein from Ten Pretty Girls blog provides us with some hysterically funny and really insightful commentary about Betsey Johnson’s show — but from the backstage perspective.
By now I was getting a little jaded with Fashion Week–Project Runway alumni? Check. Dove chocolates? Check.
Public access cable celebrities? Check.
Part of this may have to do with the fact that I had yet to make it to a top-of-the A list show– some part of my destiny seems to be keeping me from getting in to Carolina Herrera no matter what, as it’s the third season in a row now where I’ve been on the list and missed it for one reason or another.
But who could be better to shake off boredom than Betsey Johnson?
Racks of Betsey Johnson clothing.
When I got backstage I was amazed at what I saw behind the scenes in the Big Tent. Keeping in mind that the designers only occupy this space for a few hours, the decoration was amazing–tons of balloons, personalized signs for key personnel, travel posters…the works!
The refreshments were astonishing too: a full buffet, a dessert buffet, beer, wine, champagne, and soda–way to tell who has a big budget and who’s just faking it!
Pouring champagne and beer!!
The coolest people I’d ever seen were there, great music was playing, it was just a totally rock star atmosphere.
A guy walking around dressed like a pirate who turned out to be Liam McMullan,
son of New York society photographer Patrick McMullan, posed for a great shot for me, and then I went to talk to Italo, superstar stylist for Redken.
We hit it off immediately because I actually had an uncle named Italo and everyone else was mispronouncing his name.
He told me about how he’d conceived the look for the show, multicolored bobbed synthetic wigs: “I looked at the collection and it had an 80’s feel to it, so I wanted to add something modern, then I picked the colors–white, black, turquoise, pink and purple–just for fun. The cut is a precision cut that starts out short in the back and lengthens towards the jaw. It draws attention to the eyes and then I added texture with Water Wax and Rough Paste.”
The Neverland look
Italo assured me that the Water Wax and Rough Paste worked well on the synthetic material of the wigs and would work equally well with synthetic hair extensions. When I asked him if the look could work for people on the street, he said, “Maybe not the bright colors unless you have a certain kind of personality, but the cut would definitely work well for anyone!”
After I spoke to Italo I was introduced to Kinya Hart, the Redken Insider contest winner who got to attend Fashion Week for the first time ever due to the good people at Redken. Though the weather was dreadful that day, her hair was perfect, which tells me I’m going to have to head to the Fifth Avenue Salon soon or I’ll be an embarrassment!
Kinya, the winner of the Redken NYFW Blogger contest.
Next up was checking out the makeup, done by the fabulous Fulvia of Makeup Forever. The theme of the show was Neverland, hence the pirate, but the look was reminiscent of Raggedy Ann to me, with thick upper false eyelashes, lower faux cils drawn on with Aqua Eyes, bright rosy cheeks created with Sculpting Blush, and rosy, natural lips. The clothes matched this look perfectly, as if the line were designed by a brilliant five year old with a penchant for dress-up, which may be a decent way of describing Betsey Johnson herself!
Make-up by MakeUp ForEver
Celebrities at the show included Kelly Osbourne, who walked in wearing a gorgeous light blue Betsey party dress, is beautiful in person and has some of the best skin I’ve ever seen–damn, I should have asked her what she uses!
Charlize Theron was also there, but my other “celebrity encounter” was more ridiculous than fabulous.
Who is this? Heidi Klum or Vendela? Your guess is as good as mine!!
There was a guy wearing dark glasses getting his picture taken constantly with Ian the pirate, and dark glasses usually mean A-list at Fashion Week, so I walked up to him to get a closer look and became convinced that he was Jack White. I wasn’t 100% sure I was right, though, and I wanted to be cool about it. I have a friend that’s good friends with Jack, so I tapped the guy on the shoulder and said, “I need to show you something! I think we have a mutual friend!”
He was amenable but when he looked at the contact list on my cell phone he shrugged, puzzled. I pointed to the name in question and said, “You know _____, right?”
“I think you’re going to have to remind me,” he said.
“You know, the computer guy?”
“Oh, sure, the computer guy,” he said unconvincingly. “Tell him I said hi.”
When I got home I looked at pictures of Jack White carefully, and it appears that he has brown eyes, while my guy had blue, so I’m very glad I didn’t cause hysterics by calling him Jack.
A BIG thank you to Nancy from Ten Pretty Girls blog for this great coverage!! What a fab time she had!!
Stevie Wilson
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