Blinged out and Groovy at Baby Phat

Monday, September 15th, 2008

Blinged out and Groovy at Baby Phat

Now it’s time to say goodbye to the Spring 2009 collections, and who better to give an appropriate grand finale than Kimora Lee Simmons, Ms. Fabulosity herself? (This show was especially special for her as Baby Phat is celebrating ten years in the fashion industry.)

The inspiration for the collection was Cher circa 1970’s. Backstage her GLAM squad was working hard to the bone, but I still got the inside scoop behind the look for all my loyal glamonistas. Since MAC provided the makeup, I chatted with MAC makeup artist, Mark who has been working with MAC for three years.

GlamBlush: “What is the inspiration for the makeup today?”

Mark: “The look was inspired by Cher, so it’s 1970’s-60’s. A lot of glitter, a lot of sparkle on the eye, natural face and a bright pink rosy cheek. The look is right of Africa, out the jungle, a safari type of look, so they’re {models} going to be bronzed from head to toe, darker than their own skin tone.”

GlamBlush: “What are the key products you’re using?”

Mark: “Lashes, on top and bottom. Sculpting Shape Foundation which will be in stores soon. And MAC pigments in Gold Dark which will be available in November.”

I met models Kay Kim and Damaris who happily posed for snaps.

Kay Kim

Damaris

Cher’s trademark back in her hey day was her beautiful long black hair. The hair team was serving up the long, bone straight hair and they were using these glamorous blinged out flat irons courtesy of Linea Pro.

They are swathed in hand applied Swarovski crystals; think of this tool as like couture for your hair. I saw these babies in action and they are just as functional as they are hypnotizing/beautiful to look at. The stylist used these on hair pieces and wigs. These flatirons are a personal fave of Madame Kimora herself, so it only seemed appropriate for the hair team to be using them on her models. (Kimora spares no expense when it comes to spreading the fabulosity around!) They come in silver and black, in mini and full size, and are available at Henri Bendel.

Roxanne Valinoti (head of the CND nail team, and has been with the company for 10 years) told me about the custom made nails for Baby Phat.

GlamBlush: What is the story behind the nails? I’ve noticed this pretty pale pink. What shade is that?

Roxanna: “The inspiration comes from an easy time of life, the 1970’s, Cher was the inspiration here. The shade we used is called Strawberry Daffodil…We specially create everything that we do for backstage [at fashion week]. There’s 18 nails in a set. There is a variety of different sizes because each model has a different fit. This was a different type of show for Baby Phat. We normally do rhinestones and embellishments and stones, and really, really rich and lavish designs. We sent them snakeskin, we sent them turquoise, sand, and they [Baby Phat] came back with ‘No, we really want to be easy.’ I think it’s interesting because that’s the time that we live in now, with the really long nails, and as you can see it’s pretty.”

Customized Strawberry Daffodil nails

Model Kay Kim’s hand

GlamBlush: What are going to be the color trends [in nails] for spring?

RV: “I would say our spring collection, but it hasn’t been named yet. But from existing shades, there’s Serenity, Negligee, Crème Brulee, Iced Cappuccino (a bronze patina metallic), a dichotomy of metallics. These are shades we used a lot here at the shows for fashion week.”

GlamBlush: “What are your favorite CND products?”

RV: “ SolarOil, and my other fave is Cucumber Heel Therapy. That actually helps to repair cracks in the skin. So it’s a must have. When I travel I always have a bottle of Solar Oil and cucumber heel therapy. Models love it and they ask for the SolarOil because when they’re taking off their nail polish so many times, it {cuticles} gets dry and they love it.”

There were also gorgeous male models walking in this show and they too, were beautiful to look at. All in all I thoroughly enjoyed the look for this show as did the models. I tip my hat off to Kimora, for a job well done!