NYFW Fall 2009: Nancy Lichtenstein Goes Behind the Scenes at Badgley Mischka with Peter Gray of Redken

A belated article (my bad– it got buried in my inbox with all the Oscar stuff) from Nancy Lichtenstein. What we love about Nancy is her “never say die” attitude and willingness to follow her heart and fashion sense.

When Stevie asked me if I could cover this my response to her was, “I would crawl half a mile over broken glass to go to Badgley Mischka!” Unfortunately my commute to the city turned out to be almost that difficult.
Some of you will have read my previous Fashion Week adventures, a large part of which consisted of difficulty getting into the city during rush hour traffic. When I found out Badgley Mischka was going to be at 10 am which means being backstage at 9 am, I got smart and decided to take public transportation. No more going crazy looking for a parking space, no more standing around in six inch heels at the gas tank begging someone to help me (I don’t know how to pump gas because self-serve is illegal in New Jersey). No, I traded in all those delightful things for the pleasure of…
a bus that broke down.
Fortunately it happened less than a mile away from the bus depot, so we were on the road again pretty quickly, but I had to speed walk almost half a mile in six inch heels to make it in time.
(The fact that the two models who had fallen on the runway at Helmut Lang earlier in the week wearing similar shoes was running through my mind the whole time.) It was more than worth it, though, as Badgley Mischka offered the excitement that I felt had so far been missing from Fashion Week this year.

For one thing, there were a lot of beautiful famous women in the front row including Heather Graham, Joan Allen, Amy Grant, Joan Lunden and Amanda Beard. For another, the collection was truly glamorous.
Don’t get me wrong: the look was slightly subdued, at least for Badgley Mischka. They featured several outfits that were head-to-toe black, and after two seasons of bright colors and black and white it looked very refreshing.
The embellishments were toned down and the interest was mostly in the texture of the fabric and the silhouettes. Even still, the models looked like women of means rather than post Apocalyptic militia members, which is what I’ve been seeing in a lot of shows.

Ironically enough, Peter Gray of Redken described the collection as “futuristic red carpet” and the hairstyles he designed for it as “Badgley Mischka meets Blade Runner.”

When asked if he thought things were toned down because of the economy, he said, “Not here, not at Badgley Mischka anyway. It’s all about glamour and fun. It’s a way for people to escape their troubles temporarily.”

The look he created for the hair was sculptural with a large roll in the back and required lots of hold, which he accomplished with two types of mousse–Guts 10 and Full Frame 07–and Workforce 09, Redken’s stellar hairspray that’s a staple on the red carpet because it really stays in place. Peter says you can recreate the style at home, even without a helper, by rolling the back of the hair on a shaper, securing with pins and spraying extensively with hairspray.
Makeup at Badgley Mischka was by Tom Pecheux of M.A.C. and featured matte skin and deep, shimmery eyes with rosy cheeks and glossy lips. It was rich but not flashy, which seemed entirely appropriate for the mood of the day.

Thank you to Nancy Lichtenstein for her insightful reportage. One question for Nancy: how do you handle 6 inch heels without breaking your neck? You covered quite a distance and a long day. ‘Fess up girl!! Fill us in!!
Stevie Wilson

Subscribe to RSS headline updates from:
Powered by FeedBurner

LA-Story Recessionista, Celebrity Style Slam Trademark/Copyright: KBP Inc. 2007-09