This season, Michael Kors went on a road trip. “We were thinking about a lot of women who I think are creative, stylish and smart through the years,” the designer told us backstage at New York Fashion Week, citing Georgia O’Keeffe and Elsa Schiaparelli as examples. “Both of those women spent time in the great outdoors, which takes me, in many instances, out to the American southwest.” Kors added that the inspiration behind his S/S ’16 show also had a cinematic tie-in.  “It’s kind of a very glamorous, Michael Kors take on Thelma & Louise – if they had a lot of fabulous clothes in the trunk of the car, I think that would be the beauty look.”  

Makeup artist Dick Page did a variation on the bronzed beauty Kors is so well known for, sweeping Kors’ Bronze Powder in Glow across the bridge of the nose, the top of the cheekbones and forehead, adding a bit of gloss on the eyes and lips, leaving out mascara and lightly filling-in brows. “I don’t want a hairdresser technique,” hairstylist Orlando Pita said of the swept back hair which was made to look as if the model had simply done it herself. “I want a girl putting a stick in her hair.” (An amber pick was used to secure this windblown look.) Nails were coated in a “dusty” colour by Jin Soon Choi, who used Michael Kors Nail Lacquer in Hint followed by a matte topcoat.

Altogether, the look was decidedly glamorous, if somewhat undone. “The funny thing is, opulence used to mean special occasion,” says Kors on how the idea of opulence has evolved. “And I think that’s something that has totally changed – the rules are gone. Girls in my office wear sequins to work. Why wouldn’t you want to be glamorous even if you’re going to the gym?” Or, of course, on a road trip.

Notably though, not everyone was on board with the changing aesthetic. “I had one evil [model] who ran off and put mascara and lipstick on,” said Page. “It’s like being back in the ‘90s.” 

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