SPONSOR| Fridja garment steamers backstage at Vauxhall Fashion Scout

Backstage at Vauxhall Fashion Scout is often a hectic yet thrilling atmosphere and it wouldn't have been complete without the brilliant garment steamers by Fridja- used and loved by every designer, stylist and dresser that have walked through the door, we were so glad to have them with us to keep the collections looking crisp, clean and... well, perfect! 

Head over to the Fridja website yourself by clicking here

SPONSOR| Vita Coco keep us refreshed in the Vauxhall Fashion Scout rush!

The folks at Vita Coco have been a vital part of the London Fashion Week survival regime- with a fridge packed full of delicious, refreshing Vita Coco flavours, the fashion elite have been well looked after at vauxhall Fashion Scout. The coconut-water drink has been an instant success with the fridges being empty almost straight after being refilled!!! Thanks to the guys at Vita Coco- we wouldn't have survived the Fashion Week rush without you!

BACKSTAGE| The Body Shop UK interview

The Body Shop has done a fantastic job with the make-up this week, creating looks for every show at Vauxhall Fashion Scout. We caught up with Kelly from the team to discuss their highlights and favourite looks for the coming seasons.

VFS: What have you got out of collaborating with Vauxhall Fashion Scout?

Kelly: There’s so many different designers, so much inspiration going on. There’s a great atmosphere.

VFS: You’ve been doing the make-up for autumn/winter collections but what are your favourite trends from spring/summer?

Kelly: I love all the pastel colours at the moment because it translates really well with the make-up. That’s what I’m really going for, the pastel blues, pinks and greens.

VFS: What have you seen that’s quite recurrent for autumn/winter?

Kelly: The lip colours, reds are really, really strong this year. I think it will be for next season as well. It’s something a lot of the designers have been inspired by. All the designers keep saying ‘oh I want that blood red look’. It looks so nice on everyone as well so I can understand it.

VFS: What do you love most about doing the Vauxhall Fashion Scout shows?

Kelly: There isn’t even one thing I could pick out I just love it all. The buzz of it. The only thing is I’m tired but everyone is!

VFS: What has been your highlight show this season?

Kelly: I enjoyed Raffael Ascione and Ubuntu.

Interview by Sarah Potter and Olivia Pinnock, VFS Contirbutors

Follow them @Sarahhhhrah and @OliviaPinnock 

Photography by Rowan Papier, www.rowanpapier.com

BACKSTAGE| Leutton Postle AW12; Hair by Toni&Guy, Make-up by The Body Shop

Backstage at Leutton Postle the models were sporting frizzy bouffant ponytails and neon bright eyebrows.

Red and blue extended eyebrows popped on fresh looking skin and minimal eye make-up while the hair was created to have a morning after look.

Lucy Bridge, Make-Up Artist for The Body Shop, said: “The collection is super colourful and bright with lots of textures so we’ve tried to emulate that with the make-up. We’ve got shine, matt, glitter and bright colours to coincide with the pieces.”

Low ponytails have been an emerging theme throughout the autumn/winter 12 shows but Indira Schauwecker from Toni & Guy explains the story behind this particular look: “The inspiration for the hair is from a girl who went to a party last night, her hair was crimped and massive and she gets home really late and didn’t want to wash her hair so when she wakes up in the morning she tries to flatten it but then when she takes her jumper off at the office it all goes static. They’re all slightly different from each other too.”

Olivia Pinnock, VFS Contributor

www.tellusfashion.com

Photography by Rowan Papier 

www.rowanpapier.com

BACKSTAGE| Ji Cheng hair by Toni&Guy

Pony tails tied at the nape of the neck are all over the catwalks this season. International Artistic director at Toni and Guy, Tim Furseddonn, created a unique take on the look for the Ji Cheng show at Vauxhall Fashion Scout.

What did the designer want from the hair for this show and how did you go about achieving it?

East meets West.  Purity and simplicity. I achieved this by sleeking back the hair, to achieve a pure Geisha look and a fluid head.

I notice the girls’ plaits, what does this add to the style?

The sudo plaits, worn from the temples, bring an ethnicity and provides an extra element to an otherwise simple look. 

Which key products did you use to create this look?

Label M’s hair wax, which was my quintessential product this season. 

Which elements of this style do you think will translate well to the street? 

I would suggest a loser ponytail. The ponytail is eternal in fashion and this season it is lower. Tie the hair very low at the nape or flat.

It is paramount to style the hair in accordance with the garments, how does the look fit with the collection?

The collection is has a Japanese feel as well as an inspiration from the seventies and the hair manages to draw these two cultures together.

Editor's Note: Of course the first and final model's hairstyle didn't require quite as much work...

Hazel Brereton, VFS Contributor
Follow her @hazelbrereton
Photography by Rowan Papier, www.rowanpapier.com

BACKSTAGE| The Body Shop make-up Ji Cheng

For Ji Cheng’s Vauxhall Fashion Scout catwalk show, The Body Shop have created a fresh glowing look with coral cheeks and lips and vibrant orange eyes.

Lan Nguyen, Head Make-Up Artist, talks us through how the look was created.

VFS: What has inspired the make-up look and how have you created that on the models?

Lan Nguyen: The inspiration is spring love so it’s quite soft, feminine and pretty and it’s just using monotone that gives you the feeling that it’s warm and still quite wintery because we’re not doing any other detail apart from the white eyeliner in the inner eye. All the colours that we’ve used are quite vibrant, corally orange and we’ve mixed in lipstick to the powder to give it a matt, dusky feeling. It’s used on the cheeks, the eyes and the lips. 

VFS: Which Body Shop products have you used?

Lan Nguyen: Lipstick number 60, it’s got an orange sheen to it and it’s got a lovely little metallic feel to give you that sheen and vibrancy on the catwalk. And we’ve used the coral cheek colour which also sets it. We’ve mixed it and layered and relayered it to get that intensity that we needed. So it’s very simple but very effective. 

VFS: What techniques have you been using?

Lan Nguyen: It’s just layering, blending, applying, dabbing, stippling, applying again, just constant layering to get the right consistency on skin and the eyes. It’s juicy but it looks like it’s coming from the girls’ skin rather than just slapped on.

VFS: We noticed bright pink eyes at Inbar Spector as well, are these fresh, bright eyes going to be a big trend?

Lan Nguyen: Yeah, people are going for more muted, soft feminine tones that are just a little bit more unusual than what you’re used to seeing. It’s stepping out of the bar a little bit but keeping it like back in the days of the Victorians when there was less colours available. Women used to multiuse all the products so with this sort of thing you get the same monotone that’s quite expensive looking but really feminine and simple and quite young as well.

Interview by Olivia Pinnock VFS Contributor

Follow her @OliviaPinnock www.tellusfashion.com
Photography by Rowan Papier, www.rowanpapier.com and Natalia Ilina

BACKSTAGE| The Body Shop Beauty at Lako Bukia AW12

Vauxhall Fashion Scout sponsors The Body Shop created a strong and definite brow shape for Lako Bukia's AW12 show. Using both pencil and liquid eyeliner, full linear lines were created and filled to reiterate the cubist influence illustrated throughout the collection. The lips were nude whilst the face remained flawless except for a hint of blush. 

The Body Shop UK have shown  through a succession of shows at Vauxhall Fashion Scout that heavy brows are clearly a huge trend for AW12. You heard it here first. 

Cass Gowing, VFS Blog Editor

T: @CassGowing
www.cassgowingfashion.co.uk

Photography by Natalia Ilina

BACKSTAGE| Lako Bukia Hair with Toni and Guy

Futurism was once again the word du jour behind-the-scenes of Lako Bukia with our sponsor Toni & Guy at the helm.  With a slick high-ponytail, secured by a metallic cuff, the hair displayed motifs of science-fiction and modernity.  

The simple lack of ostentation suggested a minimal aesthetic, and a tendency towards androgynous sportswear.  This clinical, contemporary hair design corresponds to her trademark inspirations of cubism and the sharp angles that the movement constitutes. 

Words and photographs:

Abigail Gurney-Read VFS Contributor
Photography by Natalia Ilina and Abigail Gurney-Read

BACKSTAGE| Prose Hair with Toni and Guy

The Prose show at Vauxhall Fashion Scout this evening featured heavily fringed jackets and dresses, an inspiring look for your autumn/winter wardrobe. VFS headed backstage to speak to Cos Sakkas from the Toni and Guy session team about how the look can inspire your hairstyle too.

VFS: Talk us through the hair look for Prose…

Cos Sakkas: It is off the face, it’s very square, so think of a flat top type feeling and it’s very wet. Very run-through with the fingers so it’s very lifted internally. When you look at it from the back it’s really long and triangular.

VFS: How does that complement the collection?

Cos Sakkas: The collection’s got a lot of fringing and tassels so really the hair texture is seen as this as it’s all separated so it’s kind of tasselled looking as well. The way that we created the wet look was not by clumping together so we haven’t gelled it into one solid piece. We’ve left all the individual strands of hair to create that fringe type feeling into it.

VFS: What products have you used to create the look?

Cos Sakkas: The key products are the Label.M strong mousse, that’s what makes it look really lifted internally, and then we used the Label.M shine spray which gives it that wet look.

VFS: What are the key hair trends that you’re seeing for this season?

Cos Sakkas: Everything is so easy this season. Really, really wearable and it can be taken off the catwalk and the client can just take that for a night out or for an easy Sunday, depending on the different designers. It’s so simple, so easy; little side partings, a little looseness around the face, low ponytails instead of anything too high, and dry.

Interview by Olivia Pinnock, VFS Contributor

Follow her @OliviaPinnock

www.tellusfashion.com  

Photography by Natalia Ilina and Rowan Papier 

BACKSTAGE| Prose Make-Up with The Body Shop

Models with fresh faces and sleeked back, hair recline in chairs whilst The Body Shop’s finest make-up artists buzz about them painting nails and combing… eyebrows!

For the Prose AW12 collection The Body Shop chose a no make-up look to show the true beauty of the models and to showcase the collection to its fullest potential. Head make-up artist, Lan Nguyen, explains, “We concentrated on strong eyebrows, and berry stained lips with dewy skin as though they might have just stepped out of the shower. You know when you get out of the shower and your skin is wet and glowing, it looks juicy. You’re hot so your lips are red and the wetness gives your eyebrows texture. It also makes the look more androgynous, a contrast of masculine and feminine.”

In order to complete this natural, barely there look Lan’s team used lipstick 62, stained and the eyebrows were thickened and defined using The Body Shop’s eyeliner kit in taupe. The models wore mascara but this was softened using The Body Shop’s eyebrow gel and the team gave the models their healthy glow with the help of concealer to reveal nuances in tone and finally sprayed their faces with vitamin e face mist to illuminate the skin.

Amy Jane Lockwood

Amysspikes.blogspot.com

Photography by Alina Negoita

SPONSOR | POD Food supplies tasty treats backstage at Vauxhall Fashion Scout

All week the guys at POD have kept our backstage crews going- with constant supplies of scrumptious food, the models along with the guys and girls at The Body Shop and Toni & Guy have been ripping into the lunch-box style goody bags, full of fresh, healthy, nutritious food whilst hard at work backstage!

Thank you so much to our wonderful sponsors- POD, we are loving our first season with you at the Freemason's Hall!

For more information- head over to the POD website by clicking the link here.


Photography: Rowan Papier and Natalia Ilina

BACKSTAGE| Toni & Guy Hair with Inbar Spector

Toni and Guy hair stylists flock about towering models preening and backcombing. As the hair grows taller and the girls step into their plinth like platforms the stylists even need to employ the use of stepladders.

Inbar’s clothes have a regal, empowering quality so naturally the inspiration behind the hairstyles this season came from Queen Elizabeth I. Inbar explains, “I love England and showing here”. Having worked with Inbar in the past, the Toni and Guy team were able to evolve their previous styles and inspirations along with the designs. The team creatively developed this dramatic female icon into an updated modern, version, a contemporary queen with theatrical dress sense. However, despite the strength of this image the head stylist, Indira, points out “We wanted to create very graphic, very exaggerated shapes but to keep it prettier, ‘princessy’”. The styles are more feminine and innocent which works perfectly with the playfulness of Inbar’s designs.

The team achieved this look by starting with a definite, neat central parting and forming two high ponytails. These were then plaited and weaved with long strands of synthetic hair which were pulled and backcombed into voluminous, tall horns using Label M mousse and hairspray. The hair is very dry, slightly unkept and wild looking, like a young princess gone astray to have fun. Elaborately jewelled, brightly coloured head-pieces created by Lara Jensen, much like the bejewelled pieces Elizabeth I would have worn in her hair, are lowered to conceal the face like an Arabian princess, creating a truly couture look.

Amy Jane Lockwood, VFS Contributor

Photography by Raul Rosillo and Natalia Ilina

BACKSTAGE| The Body Shop Beauty with Inbar Spector

Body Shop's Award-Winning Head Make-Up artist, and 'Phoenix' beauty editor, Lan Nguyen, 

spoke to Vauxhall Fashion Scout about creating Inbar Spector's Autumn/Winter beauty looks. 
With Elizabethan England as inspiration for the show's make-up, Nguyen made reference to the pallor of a porcelain doll, working with a pale base, and dusty pinks with Body Shop's No. 2 Blusher in Coral and No. 62 Lipstick in Maroon.

Emily Palmer VFS Contributor

Follow her: @emilypalmer4
Photography by Natalia Ilina