Backstage Beauty: Badgley Mischka Fall 2010

Hey Glamazons! If you were as smitten by the movie Avatar as I was, then you should be super excited to hear that it inspired a backstage beauty look.

Surprisingly, it was the chic and elegant Fall 2010 collection designed by Badgley Mischka (and not someone more racy and edgy such as Diesel or Marc Jacobs).

Lead hairstylist Peter Gray (for Redken) said that this year, the designers decided to produce a diffusion line (much like Versace did with the line Versus); meaning that the show would be split into two. Half of the show consisted of the classic Badgley Mischka (ie elegant red carpet gowns) and midway through, the look went a bit edgier. Gray explained that he thought it would be great if the hair look could change as well.

*Side note: If you're reading this and thinking, that's impossible, think again! He really did it...the guy is a hair genius!

The first look was what he called "princess hair."

"[The designers] showed me these pictures from movie Avatar of the vines on the ground and all the jewelry comes from this idea of interlinking vines on the ground," he said. "We kind of roped the hair and twisted it and it formed sort of this ropey vine and they liked that."

Then, Gray said his thoughts immediately turned to how to transform the "princess hair" into "warrior hair."

The key? It's all in the base.

"We started off with a good base, like a layer of foundation on the hair," he explained. "This is the key to create anything with versatility. People expect hair to sort of behave on its own, but it's just like skin; you've got to moisturize it and tone it. You've got to cleanse and condition the hair and get it in good enough to make it do what you want it to do."

The base in this case was Redken's Layer Lift 007. The hairstylists applied it to the hair, blow dried and then brushed back the sides of the hair tightly into what Gray dubbed as "panels."

"It's very, very tight with a high ponytail underneath the crown," he said. "We're separating the top area and then flat ironing the hair underneath we're getting it nice and straight."

Gray also explained that the tightly pulled back panels added a nice eyelift and gave the girls cheekbones which created more room for lead makeup artist Charlotte Tillbury (for MAC) to work her magic.

These extraordinary new extensions called Easy Hair were also being used on the girls to add more volume. (Extraordinary only because each strip of hair contained this strip of sticky tape on the back of it. You simply peeled off the top layer and stick it in your head. AtotheMazing!)

"The combination of using the Layer Lift 007 and the extensions together kind of gives you nice fat hair," he said. "The hair floats and it doesn't look all heavy. I didn't want all of the hair just hanging down; I wanted something sexier."

So how did it all work? The models hit the catwalk with the twisty updo. Then halfway through the show, the hairstylists dropped the hair and pulled out the flat irons. (They even had outlets placed next to the runway entrance so they could start flat ironing the hair down as soon as the model left the runway!)

"This is the good thing about people that are collaborative," he explained.

One thing that Gray didn't want to see on the runway? Models looking what he described as "old" in the dresses.

"One thing that I notice about young starlets on the red carpet today is that they try and look too old; too grown up," he said. "At 20, 21, why should you be looking like a 45 year old woman? Wear your hair young! And, at 45, you should be looking younger. Loosen up and go for it; have some fun!"

Makeup artist Charlotte Tillbury described the makeup look as very "computer generated."

"Everything is very contoured and highlighted," she said. "It's a very sort of feline look; but in a natural way, not like a freak."

Lead manicurist Deborah Lippman used a silver sequined nail shade on the models from her line called Marquee Moon.

"It's a futuristic sequined silver; a silver that has a lot of pigment," she said. "It has a frost in it and as an added bonus you get big chunks of sequins. You might get one on one nail and then 10 on the next. That's the way it's supposed to be: deconstructed, easy, free."

Model Arlenis Sosa getting her makeup done. While doing so, she shared with me that this was her second season to walk in the Badgley Mischka show and she was really excited. Her fave shows thus far to walk in were DVF because of the all the color and Carolina Herrera because of the elegant and chic designs. "Everything is going well and I'm just happy to be here," she said while smiling. Just love her to pieces she's so sweet!