Filed under: Interviews, Fashion Files, Fashion Week, Designers
There is always a message behind the madness that is Vivienne Westwood. For Spring/Summer 2011, the designer's memo of the moment was outlined in 11 bullet points that all centered on the Earth's sustainability and -- most importantly -- climate change. Westwood extracted designs from the past to remind us to "buy less, choose well, wear it over and again."This theme of eco-accountability was also cleverly depicted in the beauty scheme of her show. As we know, the climate can affect the condition of the skin, and makeup artist Val Garland and the MAC pro team honed into this idea using white paint on the models' faces and in their hair, which embodied polar damage. "The background of it all is climate change. I took as my theme the idea of lost civilizations, and therefore the makeup looked like people were dead, and actually from a tomb," said Westwood backstage. "I also had this idea of a little girl who was left on a mountain side in Peru and was burnt and scorched to death because she was waiting for the sun to marry her."
BlackVoices caught-up backstage with Malian model Nana Keita, who told us she was made-up to look like a cracked China doll. "You can always count on Vivienne to create a look that will make you think," said Nana. With a grueling schedule, Nana is keen on maintaining a fresh face as she dashes from the catwalks of New York to Paris.
"I use a French cream, Epiberme, which keeps my skin glowing and smooth and I drink lots of water." When we snooped in Nana's handbag we found Chanel Exceptionnel mascara ($30, chanel.com), M∙A∙C Pressed Powder ($22, macosmetics.com) and M∙A∙C Lip Conditioner SPF 15 ($14.50, maccosmetics.com), three beauty essentials for any girl on-the-go.