Hair And Makeup At Hyden Yoo SS12 Presentation Inspired By “The Lover”

In the 1992 film The Lover, set in Indochina in the late 1920s, a French teenager falls in love with a native wealthy man over 15 years her senior, setting the stage for a forbidden affair that, ultimately, proves hugely detrimental to them both. Age differences aside, the film explores the tense relationship between the French expatriates and the colonized natives of the region (now known as Vietnam and Cambodia).

Using this film as the inspiration for his Spring 2012 collection, showcased on Wednesday, September 7th, at The Cabanas in the Maritime Hotel, designer Hyden Yoo created a collection filled with retro silhouettes: boxy tops in cream, paprika, and white hues; simple floor-length dresses and straight maxi skirts; khaki-colored trench coats with cape-like sleeves and rounded necklines; and safari-esque dresses with slim leather belts cinching the waistline.

To complement the collection’s colonial romanticism, the hair and makeup looks created for the female models in the show were meant to convey their youthfulness and their adventurous spirit while also staying true to the 1920s time frame. Jennifer Chen led the MAC Cosmetics team backstage (check out our interview with her above), while the hair team was directed by Marco Santini of ION Studio.

Chen says she wanted the look to feel “a little tomboy but still feminine,” and so she made the models’ skin look dewy and flushed with a combination of cream colors. Cheeks, for example, had a rusty, orange-y tan to them and a slightly damp feel, conjuring up the image of them running around and perspiring ever so slightly, thanks to a combination of MAC Bronze Cream Colour Base and MAC Pro Orange Cream Colour Base, blended along the cheekbone in a comma-like shape, with the rounded point of this comma formation located at the apples of cheeks for a wind burnt effect. The eye makeup was minimal — lids were given a creamy, dewy, fresh feel with the use of the MAC Fawntastic Cream Colour Base, a light beige shade with a slight frosty finish. To highlight groomed brows (tamed and shaped with MAC Clear Brow Set), the makeup team applied a hint of the MAC Pro Longwear Gloss Coat. No mascara was applied so as to keep the look light and natural.

The main focus in terms of the makeup, then, was the deep wine lip color. To get this sumptuous shade, Chen mixed MAC’s Media Lipstick, a dark red wine shade, with MAC’s Sin Lipstick, a golden red with light golden pearl particles. Though she used a lip brush to apply the colors, she dabbed lips with her fingertips to make them look more matte, transforming the satin finish into more of a lip stain. For a light pearly frost, she then applied the MAC Bronze Cream Colour Base, concentrating on the center of the mouth to create the illusion of a plumper pout.

The hair, meanwhile, was styled much like a 1930s bob but, rather than the more matronly look affiliated with this ‘do, Marco Santini’s interpretation was deliberately untidy and youthful in its slightly chaotic feel. Most of the models had long manes, so the bob shape was created by tucking their tresses in along the back. To increase the messiness factor, Santini and his team used texturizers like the Davines Sea Salt Spray, then curled hair with a curling iron, using a wider barrel piece for the back sections, and pinned. Later, hair was released and brushed out, yielding not-so-neat waves. Last, the hair was tucked under at the back and pinned to the scalp, with some strands allowed to dangle freely to stay true to the impromptu feel.

At the front, hair was parted at the left or right sides of the face and curled tightly toward the scalp using a curling iron with a slimmer barrel, then brushed out a bit to create soft, S-shaped waves, and given a bit of shine with the Davines Defining Gloss. Hair was let loose at the sides and the front of the head so that the front sections were longer than the back, giving the messy bob silhouette a modern asymmetrical flair. Frizzy, fuzzy wisps radiated around the head, meanwhile, for a natural, lived-in feel.

Check out our interview with Marco Santini above!