Pretty Provocative | BEAUTY INC
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BY DANA WOOD ue the warrior women. At the the Nineties, when minimalist fashion ruled and artifi ce dawn of the new decade, members was roundly shunned. “These new girls who have this When the going of the fairer sex are on a power toughness—or at least this kind of apparent toughness— trip, toughening up the way they hark back to what I always think of as that Peter gets tough, present themselves to the world Lindbergh/Helmut Lang stable: Tatjana Patitz, Cordula and tossing traditional notions of Reyer, Lynn Koester,” he says. “Those were women who the tough “sexy” into the beauty abyss. looked like they could really f–k you up.” Emerging during the spring To make room for spring’s tougher beauty gestalt, get gorgeous. 2010 ready-to-wear collections obviously something had to go. And for the moment, it in the U.S. and Europe, this new seems lush curls, pink lips and cheeks and any outward aesthetic—this of-the-moment spin on femininity— vestiges of girliness just aren’t cutting it as a way to soldier paired a cropped, boyish haircut; sculpted cheeks, and through a world rife with economic collapse, terrorism, a muddied makeup palette with one of the few bona climate change and all that other worrisome stuff. fi de directions in fashion: men’s wear for women. At “Through tough times, women are asserting their show after show, “the new sexy” powered down the strength by ditching pretty pastels and girly hair,” says catwalks in New York, London, Paris and Milan. To wit: Linda Cantello, who notes that Giorgio Armani, for Narciso Rodriguez, Ruffi an, Christopher Kane, Versace, whom she now serves as international makeup artist, has Givenchy and Dolce & Gabbana were just a few of the long celebrated strong, confi dent women. “Wearing red houses that put forth this powerful, don’t-mess-with-me lips and having short hair is the new cool,” Cantello says, vision of bold femininity. “a badge of confi dence in unsettling times.” Central to the season’s agenda were the rising runway For Guido Palau, Redken creative consultant and stars who embody the look, including Tao Okamoto, the stylist who created the looks at Calvin Klein, Ranya Mordanova and this issue’s cover model, Iris Prada, Louis Vuitton, Lanvin and Balenciaga, among Strubegger. [For more on Strubegger, see “Iris in Bloom” many others for spring, the shift to shorter hair was at right.] both inevitable and a refreshing change. “For so long, These are the models over whom insiders are we’ve seen long hair,” he says. “It was only a matter of swooning, and for good reason: Collectively, they’re time before someone decided to cut all their hair off in pushing the parameters of what it means to look rebellion. And it’s these kinds of rebellions that can seem confi dent and sexy, circa 2010. “It’s about strong faces, a quite liberating.” sense of power,” says salon owner Sally Hershberger. “It’s Of course, not every model is chopping her hair off. a powerful look.” (At least not yet.) So to that end, slick, scraped-back Not merely an androgyny redux, the new sexy is a styles ruled on spring runways. At 3.1 Phillip Lim, for brilliant mash-up of boyishness and glamour. According instance, coifs were clipped, rather charmingly, with to beauty gurus, it owes much to legendary women who barrettes. At Celine, sleek buns set the stage for sharp aren’t afraid to pair a swipe of crimson lipstick with a cheekbones, carved with neutral blush. For Versace, tuxedo and a crisp white shirt. Makeup superstar Dick boyishness played out in a round of rockabilly, Elvis-esque Page rattles off a tidy list of inspirations, from Coco pompadours. And when hair was left loose, as it was at Chanel, Lauren Hutton and Isabella Rossellini to Brit Burberry, that undone vibe—manifested in the soft pink ubergallerist Sadie Coles. “She has a little boy’s haircut,” lips and those sculpted cheeks again, too—telegraphed a Page says of Coles, “and a chic way of dressing—a simple strong, “I’m too busy to endlessly fuss” message. suit, nice blouse, a good loafer. It’s a bit Jil Sander–y, in a Although it bucked the men’s wear trend in favor sense. She’s incredibly smart and very, very chic.” of graceful, apocalyptic tatters, Rodarte came down In Page’s opinion, Strubegger and company recall squarely on the side of powerful women with its stunning 42 WWD BEAUTY BIZ BB1002.038-45.Iris.b;21.indd 42 2/3/10 5:12:30 PM ’s Vogue as well in —NICK AXELROD Hercules, Of her bold and often- and Vogue. Love, V Love, However, after four years of studying digital media, However, say Strubegger has been busy ever since would be To and Givenchy, In addition to fall campaigns for Valentino French, Italian and American times androgynous look in these images, the soft-spoken to be “I like the little [bit] of role play, Strubegger says: Or sometimes to just more, maybe, the tough girl or guy. be a woman, very feminine and elegant. I like that.” Japanese and Spanish editions this year, in editorials Japanese and Spanish editions this year, such edgy magazines as marketing and production (and writing a thesis on mobile marketing), she decided to give modeling a second chance. an enormous understatement. She walked in 56 shows for opening Marc Jacobs, Dolce & Gabbana and spring 2010, Isaac Mizrahi and Bottega Ven- Lanvin and closing Rodarte, eta, among others. “Everything that happened last year is, “I really enjoy [modeling] now.” she says. like, really crazy,” the 25-year-old has appeared on covers of spring show. According to Laura Mulleavy, who designs Whether borne of fi scal necessity or genuine career the line alongside her sister, Kate, the beauty look was lust, women are staking their claim on the job market ows, informed by the haunting, end-of-days story the duo in record numbers. According to recent stats from The was weaving with the clothes: “There’s a girl who’s lost Economist, females now account for more than half of in the desert, and the only place she can fi nd for refuge the global workforce—a fact the magazine hails as “one is this abandoned house. And all that’s in it is tattered of the most remarkable revolutions of the past 50 years.” wallpaper and a worn-out quilt—anything that would In the ramp-up to this seismic shift, traditional actually be a material that she’d put her clothing together societal roles have gradually fl ip-fl opped. “One very out of. So it was all ragged and ruined. And then she strong movement of recent years is the feminization of crawls into a cave, spontaneously combusts and becomes men and the masculinization of women,” says Choong a California condor.” W. Park, a professor of marketing at the University of As anyone in fashion will tell you, you had to be Southern California’s Marshall School of Business and there. Literally. Courtside seating at Rodarte is one of an expert on consumer behavior. “We used to think that the hottest tickets in town. Where else would you see men needed to be very strong, but now society is more such an unlikely beauty icon—a hideous bird that’s on appreciative of their soft and sensitive side. Now that the verge of extinction—be translated by hairstylist Odile women are competing with men for jobs, we tend to Gilbert and makeup artist James Kaliardos into some of admire those who are more independent and very active.” the most compelling beauty looks of the entire season? While it’s ostensibly easier for women to latch on Think locks scraped off the face and shrouded in wool, to male trappings (i.e., any of the chic men’s wear looks warrior-esque tribal art snaking around bare arms and served up for spring) than vice versa, Park points to the tough-as-nails black cherry lips. co-opting of facials, plastic surgery and earrings by men “For the lips, James and Kate and I always envisioned as support for his theory that we’re drifting toward a an East L.A. girl—someone who has a slightly tougher type of nebulous gender neutrality. “Androgyny is the attitude toward everything,” Mulleavy notes. “When tidal wave of the future,” he says. “I don’t think this is a people see me as a special character that they can “Now, If Strubegger sounds clued in to fashion’s ebbs and fl it’s because she is. Scouted in 2002 while working as an Strubegger enjoyed a then–18-year-old au pair in New York, some success, including walking in a spring Calvin Klein return- But she abandoned the business after a year, show. ing to her native Salzburg, Austria, enroll in university. I didn’t like [modeling] so much,” “By the end of year, she explains. “People treat you like a product. It really up- sets me, that they forget is a human being behind the of the industry’s Strubegger later says dark side. girl,” you’re creating a show, you have to think about beauty fad. It’s a sustainable movement.” though, she was in love. Having a unique “look” boost- later, (“It’s sort and, soon, her career. dence, she says, ed her confi of her cut. she says but it can also be very elegant,” of funky, “It’s very versatile, but it is for sure very androgynous.”) Strubegger adds.