Image courtesy of IMAXtree.com.

It’s never good when the white noise of backstage (a veritable hum of hairdryers, chit chat and cell phone ring tones) suddenly goes silent. At
Phillip Lim 3.1 Spring/Summer 2013, Brit hairdresser Paul Hanlon (dubbed the Ryan Gosling of hairdressing due to his affable demeanor and good looks) was hard at work his creating the intensely teased, bedhead ‘do. Even before the power went off, it was a pressurized environment. The call all makeup and hair teams hate to hear, "5 minutes to rehearsal!" had just rung out down across the messy, crowded aisle of workstations. And then, suddenly silence. Don’t you love how I’m dragging this out like I was witnessing open heart surgery during a electricity failure? Though I had been hovering nearby watching Hanlon work under a dense, rising cloud of hairspray, when the lights went out I beat a hasty retreat. Let’s put it this way: Watching such a hugely talented artist interrupted from his work when under tremendous stress, watching him rush around frantically trying to restore the electricity, a glaze of panic-sweat beading on his forehead and the occasional swear word being barked loudly towards the ceiling was too much. I liken it to seeing your dad cry for the first time. I hit the catering area
and stocked up on Madelines.
Read more of Vanessa’s NYFW dispatch….

The beauty look at 3.1 Phillip Lim.

All spectacle aside (the power eventually did go back on, and disaster was averted), the beauty look for Phillip Lim 3.1 was one of my favourites of the week. Francelle Daly, who used NARS makeup to create the lash-heavy look, summed it up as "a very modern rocker chick, with elements of early Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth), Lita Ford, Joan Jett. A tiny bit of sunkissed bronzer, a matte bronzer– as if she’s been at a music festival all day. It’s a fun effortlessly ‘rocker’ look."