Kenem Bijoux Blog – Metal Clays and Art

By Jane Herman and Catherine Piercy

NEW YORK, September 08, 2007 – Kirna Zabe’s Beth Buccini and Sarah Easley were in complete agreement. “It was the best show we’ve seen so far,” they raved while waiting in line to congratulate Thakoon Panichgul.

What made it stand out? The clothes, no doubt. Full-skirted day dresses, preppy tie-dyes, painterly prints (again!), and slouchy parka jacket it was all beautiful and concise. But there was more to it than that.

At Eyebeam, a massive gallery space in west Chelsea, the runway was laid out so that the models could weave through the crowd. Prince’s “Little Red Corvette” was the only song that played. It all had a fairly hypnotic effect. “I was trying to tell a story with this collection about a girl with a lot of color who escapes her everyday routine,” said Panichgul backstage. “It’s more than just travel and leisure. It’s about a real transformation.”

Backstage Beauty Note: As one of six young designers to pair with Aveda during Fashion Week, Thakoon embraced the beauty company’s “Three Steps to a Greener Fashion Week” campaign backstage. In addition to swearing off fur in his spring collection, the designer abstained from offering bottled water, and gifted each model, hairstylist, and volunteer with her own sleek and refillable aluminum thermos. There was also an organic, locally sourced buffet with gourmet chicken burritos, fig and goat cheese baguettes, and fresh fruit that demanded no sacrifices in the way of flavor. “I’m loving this food,” declared hairstylist Eugene Souleiman, who let down each models’ tightly wound updo just moments before the show to reveal a cascade of soft, loose waves. “The hair should look as if it’s floating as the girls walk down the runway,” he said.

“It’s hot in here,” wailed a beleaguered publicist to no one in particular of the sweltering backstage area. Certainly the arrival of actress Kate Bosworth, wearing a clingy, electric pink sheath and sky-high Prada pumps on her way to greet the designer, had something to do with the sizzle.

Photos: Dimitrios Kambouris / WireImage.com

NEW YORK, September 08, 2007 – Hairstylist Ashley Javier took a break from grooming front-row fixtures like Plum Sykes, Chlo Sevigny, and Rachel Weisz this week to prep models backstage at Behnaz Sarafpour’s spring 2008 show (the designer is one of his clients, after all). Taking a cue from her island-chic collection of rattan weave dresses, turquoise-embroidered skirts, and stretch cotton shorts, Javier created relaxed, feminine waves from the ears to the ends. “It’s easy, a little bit undone,” he said.

“Grab that model!” cried makeup artist and Lan me artistic director Gucci Westman from across the room, waving one hand in the air as she transformed mannequin Solange Wilvert into a sixties beach babe with peach-toned blush and shiny apricot lip gloss. Lan me influenced Sarafpour’s collection in more ways than one: When the cosmetics house model and eco-activist Elettra Rossellini sat down with the designer earlier this year to discuss the use of environmentally sustainable fabrics in her clothing, Sarafpour took note: organic cotton sourced from Japan, vibrant nontoxic dyes created from crushed marigolds, and embroidery made of responsibly harvested coral appear in her new collection.

Photo: Duffy-Marie Arnoult / WireImage.com

Source: Style.com

NEW YORK, September 09, 2007 – The backdrop to Vera Wang was a large and ancient-looking tree. And, as the show began, lighting behind it faded from deep orange to white in a sort of otherworldly time-lapse sunrise to the sound of, very fittingly, “Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles.

However, though it did offer shimmery gold in the way of a gilt column dress and vibrant purple, aquamarine, and rusty orange, Wang’s collection, inspired by Roman antiquity, wasn’t exactly sunny. Some of her pieces, like a chestnut duchesse satin belted dress, felt more appropriate for fall. But maybe these days the chicest women don’t worry so much about the calendar when dressing (after all, Amanda Brooks, sitting front row, was wearing the prettiest watercolor print dress from Thakoon resort). “She always does draping so beautifully,” Brooks said after the show. Her favorites? The long, jersey evening dresses.
 
It was an hour before show time, and while the music blaring through the speakers backstage was more like the playlist at Socialista, the mood was anything but the usual frenzied madness: The designer herself even had a moment to get her hair blown out by legendary hairstylist Orlando Pita. While Wang was sitting pretty, Pita’s team of stylists was busy twisting models’ hair into sleek, low knots. “You know when you see Kate Moss out, and you know she tied up her own hair, without fuss?” said Pita, looping a model’s long ponytail through an elastic band. “That’s what we’re doing.”

For makeup artist Lucia Pieroni, the bright, jewel-toned palette of Wang’s spring clothes—fashioned into draped, column-like layers and strong silhouettes—called for a suitably more simple face. “We went for a very pure Grecian look, no mascara even; just some taupey-browns and gold shimmer,” said Pieroni, who explained she didn’t want the makeup to compete with the rich shades of aqua, fuchsia, and purple in the clothes. Clé de Peau’s new spring eye color compact (in a shade called “Calming Breeze,” out this February) did double-duty, with Pieroni dipping into the nude-colored shadow for lids, and even using the pink on lips—dusted over a little bit of foundation (common backstage magic), for a matte, pale-rose effect.