California Beauty: Academy of Art University Spring 2015
For nearly a decade, the Academy of Art University‘s School of Fashion has been lauded as one of the country’s few institutions offering students the ultimate industry opportunity: to show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York. On Saturday, September 6, the School of Fashion’s runway featured works from 12 students at Lincoln Center.
“This group of designers has gone back to the essence of what the fashion designer should do, focusing on proportion and silhouette development as opposed to decoration,” said Simon Ungless, Executive Director of the School of Fashion. “I see them as a collaborative Le Corbusier, moving towards a new fashion sense of the architecture of clothes. I see what they are producing as a shift in fashion that will no doubt become an influence on trends in future seasons.”
Backstage, the hair and makeup were additionally “on trend” mirroring the minimalist, natural beauty looks seen at many of the spring ’15 shows. “I personally define the look for this season’s show as ‘puritanical minimalism’: Jane Eyre meets The Crucible,” said Ungless. “While ‘natural,’ the girls were meant to look slightly sorrowful with sculpted cheekbones and glossy stained eyelids. Rather than playing into the pretty, we focused on the architecture of each girls’ face.”
To translate his vision, Victor Cembellin, Senior Artist for M.A.C. Cosmetics, used a mere three products. “My goal was to celebrate rather than conceal, the natural pigmentation tones found around the models’ eyes,” said Cembellin. “Whether [the models were] Brazilian, from the Czech Republic, or of Asian descent, the look was tailored to each individual making the beauty vision feel global but with uniformity.”
Aveda Global Guest Artist, Jon Reyman, added to the runway looks with a custom hair wrap for each model. “We wanted to keep the hair wet and broken apart,” said Reyman. “And, we wanted to create a strong, purposeful look, maybe even androgynous, but not overdone to avoid disrupting the beautiful silhouettes.”
By Jennifer McCullum
FACE
Cembellin wrapped M.A.C. Cosmetics’ Cream Colour Base in Dusk around the entire eye socket to enhance the eye’s natural “stain.” Next, M.A.C. Cosmetics’ Gloss Texture was applied to create the suggestion of a slightly weepy eye. Finally, cheekbones were sculpted with M.A.C. Cosmetics’ Powder Blush in Taupe.
HAIR
Aveda Men Pure-Formace Firm Hold Gel, Aveda Phomollient Styling Foam, Aveda Confixor Liquid Gel, Aveda Control Force Firm Hold Hair Spray
Pictured: Fashion by designer Szu Chi Huang
Photo By Randy Brooke / WireImage