Ease and Glamour at Prabal Gurung
The beauty look at the fall 2015 Prabal Gurung show illustrated by Regina Yazdi.
For New York based designer Prabal Gurung, creating a beauty look to compliment his collection is an integral part of putting on a show. “The process starts with an early dialogue with the hair and makeup team, the stylists, and my design team,” says Gurung. “We talk about who is this girl, where is she going. She’s always on a quest or a journey.” This season, the designer partnered with hair stylist Paul Hanlon, makeup artist Diane Kendal, and nail artist Jin Soon Choi to bring to life a girl who loves glamour and comfort.
Gurung’s collection was inspired by a trip to the Adirondacks—specifically, the colors and textures of the mountains and the serene beauty of the area. On the runway this translated to chunky knits, oversized turtlenecks, and fur trimmed coats.
Gurung also relayed his outdoor, woodsy inspiration to his beauty team and an easy, fresh, and elegant look was born. For hair, Hanlon created a look that was easy yet glamorous. Working with John Frieda products, Hanlon used a round brush to dry the hair flat and added a soft wave using a curling iron to the middle section of the hair. It has that feeling of your hair being tucked into your coat or maybe you’ve been out wearing a hat all day. “I wanted it to look super modern,” says Hanlon. “You know, fresh with a little bit of flayways. It’s doesn’t look like they walked out of a salon. This is the girl that lives in the Adirondacks.”
The final look at the Prabal Gurung fall 2015 show.
The makeup was fresh and luxe, with Kendal doing a thin black line along the top lash line to give definition and using MAC Cosmetics Peach Fuzz blush ($22) to give cheeks a healthy glow. She added a touch of highlighter above the eyebrows and at the cheekbones to finish off the luminous look. And, of course, a trip to the Adirondacks wouldn’t be complete with out a touch of lip balm.
Fall 2015 marks the tenth season that Gurung has partnered with Sally Hansen to create a custom collection of polish colors that will be for sale come fall and were also used to create the nail look for the runway show. “You don’t really see the nails on the runway unless you pay attention,” says Gurung. “It’s a period to the end of a sentence. It tells you about a girl, what kind of girl she is. Nails are tattoos for the faint-hearted.” It’s no surprise then that the designer worked with Choi on the nail art for his show this season—she’s the best when it comes to creating a simple yet cool manicure.
Choi bases her designs mostly off of the colors and fabrics in the collection. During the hair and makeup test for the show, which took place three days before the presentation, Choi presented Gurung with a variety of nail art options, all based on the patterns of his fabrics. “I try to minimize and simplify the patterns of the fabrics,” says Choi.
In the end, the pair decided to utilize two of the three colors from Gurung’s new Sally Hansen collection, Midnight Affair, a rich navy and Concrete Jungle, a cool grey. Models sported either all grey nails or grey nails with a tick of the navy blue at the top. “I like the nail art to be an accent. I’ve always been into simple, modern nail art,” says Choi.
Related:
Nail Artist Jin Soon Choi’s Guide to Fashion Week
