Christian Siriano Fall 2009 Runway Show Fall Fashion Week 2009 -An Advice Sisters Feature

*all text and photos by Alison Blackman Dunham 

 

2009 marked Christian Siriano's second season showing in the tents.  I was prepared to see flamboyant, risky clothes, but somehow, Siriano is already past that, and simply produced breath-taking, elegant, sophisticated clothes for day and evening that still had energy and modern, fun details. 

 

The true fun was in the gold-glitzed makeup, and fanciful gold "bangs" and  hoods, hats, and headpieces, with an "Egyptian style" horned headdress for the final model that elicited gasps from the audience. 

For several hours, makeup artists, hair stylists, and manicurists were hard at work, making the models, runway-ready.  What does a modern Cleopatra wear as a hairstyle?  The challenge for the very nice and talented, Jon Reyman  for Aveda, was to create something glamorous, but also Cleo-esque.  Some of the models would be wearing gold metallic "bangs" and one, a huge headdress.  So Reyman needed to keep the look smooth and clean as well as eye catching.  He parted hair in center and pulled it back in a tight, sleek ponytail, applying Aveda Smooth Infusion Style-Prep Smoother (to give it shine and keep it smooth). Then he twisted the ponytail into a horizontal chignon and tuck the bottom under and pin it.  It looked slightly geometric and strong, but worked with the clothes.

Here are some of the Aveda products Reyman had on hand.

Makeup artist Polly Osmond created the makeup look using Victorias Secret Beauty products. Since the look was really gilded, she relied heavily on Victorias Secret gold-glitzed products, but used theatrical gold on the lips, since even the makeup artist herself couldn't find any truly gold lipstick (probably because the look was great on the runway, but would be somewhat disturbing in real life).  The challenge for Osmond was to mix Cleopatra with a modern goddess, and make it look pretty.  "We wanted an Egyptian feel without being too literal," she explained. To get the exotic feel of Cleopatra, Osmond used a lot of Victoria's Secret Very Sexy Eyeliner in "Black Velvet" on the bottom lids, and Victoria's Secret Very Sexy Silky Shadow in "Champagne" on the upper lids.  Black mascara was applied to top lashes only.  Faces were highlighted with the champagne shadow and lightly contoured with a Victorias Secret Goddess Bronzer  (on the deeper complexions, the bronzer was used as a highlight). 

Here are two views of the finished makeup

***Get Runway Photos and an exclusive Advice Sisters® video of the Christian Siriano Fall 1009 Runway show. 

Get more Fall 2009 Fashion Week Coverage. More photos, more backstage, and more videos from your "Front Row Seat"

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