MAC and L'Oreal Pro for Zac Posen NYFW Fall 2009

model: Heidi Mount

“Much too pretty,” makeup artist Lucia Pieroni for MAC Cosmetics said to a member of her team at Zac Posen. “She needs to look tougher.” And so the minion headed back to her station, MAC’s Smolder Eye Kohl in hand. “We’re going for a Tim Burton girl,” Pieroni explained: “a tough, moody, but still beautiful” look that centered around big eyes and huge lashes—think Helena Bonham Carter incarnate.

Pieroni swept MAC Carbon and Print Eye Shadows from the lower lash line up around the outer corners of models’ eyes and filled in lids with softer shades of the gloomy hues, MAC Blackberry Eye Shadow. Echoes of Burton’s hauntingly gorgeous animation continued with a cupid’s bow lip in a bright orange color called Morange, which the makeup artist applied in a sheer layer and with a stronger hand toward the center of the mouth. FTLOB readers will remember MAC's Morange was the lip of choice at Temperley London Spring 2008. Glad to see it come back - gorgeous color!

Studded “headbands of thorns” and the casting of Sasha Pivovarova also helped Pieroni’s cause; the model can bear a striking resemblance to Burton’s Corpse Bride when she wants to. "She looks a little hollow, a little gothic," said Pieroni.

Napoleon's first wife Joséphine de Beauharnais inspired hair and makeup fit for royalty to complement Zac Posen's Fall collection. "It's French courtesan opulence meets punk," said Odile Gilbert for L'Oréal Professionnel. Gilbert used Expansion Body Activating Mousse for volume and then swept hair high into a "large chignon" after it was teased at the roots. Extreme Holding Spray sealed the look and a braided headband with studs added a rocker edge to the elegant bouffant.

"Posen’s runway is always an extravaganza of girly glam, as over-the-top as New York fashion gets. His approach makes for lots of fun. Posen’s heart just isn’t with the 9-to-5 set. He’s a social guy whose primary interest is in designing for social girls with a theatrical bent. True, though a few frocks were relatively low-key — a violet silk charmer with a posy at the neck; a flirty micro-floral tied at the waist — many more flaunted the demonstrative gestures for which he’s known, gowns with sweeping trains, significantly endowed shoulders and big splashes of fanciful floral sequins." ~ wwd

For Fall, he enlisted the 5 Browns—a brother and sister piano troupe—to play on five Steinways arrayed down the middle of the runway, and he sent out a collection of forties-inflected Victoriana. "They were both times of sculpting clothing," he said a few days before his show. Focusing mostly on dresses, sculpt is what Posen did. ~ style.com

source: elle.com, style.com, wwd