Pink ponytails, neon lids and actual Superman uniforms. What more could you want?
The hair and make-up on the runway is often very experimental. Creative freedom combines with eclectic visions from designers to bring together the ultimate fantasy. Runway Retrospectives is a column that explores some of the most legendary catwalk beauty looks of all time.
WHO
Jeremy Scott may be best known for his wildly colourful, campy runway shows. The Kansas City native has reinterpreted fashion through his unexpected silhouettes, bold colours and always, without a doubt, wild maximalist approach to beauty. Starting out in the late 90s, Scott debuted with his own collection at Paris Fashion Week in 1997. The show took place in a bar and was themed around car crashes – models wore bandages and heels on their feet as they stomped down the runway.
The AW11 show lacked none of the humorous, slightly controversial elements that Scott loves. Just two seasons prior, the designer returned from Paris to start showing in New York again. For this collection, models wore mesh tank tops with reappropriated versions of the Coca-Cola logo reading “Enjoy God.” There were also funny t-shirts that read “Milk Kills,” sweaters with holes cut out around the boobs (à la Mean Girls, which has just recently been released), neon electric bolt dresses and cheerleader style striped outfits – all inspired by the designer’s own tribute to the 90s, featuring Gregg Araki’s Nowhere and Clueless. Just a few years later in October 2013, Scott would become Moschino’s creative director
For the hair, Eugene Souleiman created a rainbow barrage of raver girl sky-high pigtails, while make-up artist Val Garland laid down bright ombre eyeshadows that reached the brow. As the year was 2011, Kanye West and Vanessa Hudgens sat front row. Transgender model Andreja Pejic walked in the show as did a pink-haired Charlotte Free and the actress, It-girl and painter Tali Lennox.
WHAT
The AW11 collection was a hodgepodge of 90s references which Scott, and his beauty collaborators, displayed through an explosion of colour, camp and humour. Scott said of the collection, “I was thinking a lot about 1994: going to school, getting dressed up to go to parties, the enthusiasm I had.”
The hair may have been the most direct link to the raver aesthetic of the early 90s. Eugene Souleiman dyed extensions using Manic Panic in shades of sunny yellow, seafoam green, cotton candy pink, lime, violet, deep blue, and sunset orange. He then created high pigtails on each side of the models’ heads, adding in the colourful extensions to create an ombre effect. Blue shone through blonde strands, while yellow and orange manes were mixed together and ended up resembling a sunset. “It’s about Baby Spice goes Harajuku. It’s about fun, enjoying it and going out,” he said.
Meanwhile, Val Garland worked her magic using MAC Cosmetics. The legendary make-up artist created several different looks for the show. First up, bleached brows and a wash of light orange eyeshadow that went up to the brow. This was completed with chunky fake lashes and thick blue liner on the lower lash line, plus a bubble gum pink lip, the look alluded to raver girl doll aesthetic.
Garland replicated this make-up in varying colours, and with a slight bit of yellow in the corner of the eyes. The upper lid was done up in shades of deep violet, lime green with a bit of yellow thrown in, and hot pink. White liner was added in on the lower waterline to make the colours pop even more.
WHERE
The show took place at New York Fashion Week. It had been just one year since Scott returned to the city, after years of showing his collections in Paris. Models walked in the white warehouse space in downtown cool space, Milk Studios to haunting synth music.
WHY
The AW11 show solidified Scott’s return to the city that so inspires him as well as his lineage as a New York designer defined by fun motifs. Telling reporters backstage, “You should have fun with fashion. It shouldn't be a church that you pray to,” Scott positioned himself firmly as someone who never takes fashion too seriously. Beauty-wise, the collection showed off the incredible longstanding collaboration between Scott and Eugene Souleiman. To this day, the two continue to work together and often use extreme hair colours to create a statement that is equally as strong as the clothing. With the Superman cape outfits and riffs on the Coca-Cola logos, the show was also a teaser that would eventually lead to some of the designer’s most famous collaborations, the likes of which would eventually include McDonald’s and Barbie, when he took the reins just two years later at Moschino.
HOW TO GET THE LOOK
Don’t be afraid to use colour here. For the hair, depending on how much of a commitment you want to make, stock up on semi-permanent colours from Manic Panic and dye your ends before securing them into pigtails with clear elastics. Or, you can use a wash-out temporary spray such as L’Oréal Paris Colorista 1-Day Spray.
As for the make-up, it’s easier to start with a palette that has options. Try Anastasia Beverly Hills’ Norvina Pro Pigment Palette Vol. 2, which has some very similar yellow, green, orange, and pink shades to the ones that Garland used, and apply upwards towards the brow. You can also use a small brush to apply the turquoise shade in the palette as the eyeliner. Use NYX Professional Makeup Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk on the waterline and apply a spikey pair of lashes such as the Kiss Lash Couture Triple Push-Up, Brassiere. Val Garland used MAC Cosmetics lipstick in St Germain and Myth to get the pale pink shade. If all else fails, NikkieTutorials created a tutorial on the look, shortly after the show took place in 2011, with her own spin which is very easy to follow. The overall look is also an easy last-minute Halloween idea – just in case you need one!
