Rachel Comey unveiled her Spring 2016 RTW collection for New York Fashion Week yesterday at Dustin Yellin’s Pioneer Work in Redhook, Brooklyn.
We got an exclusive behind-the-scenes look backstage at the beauty preparations for the show. Facilitated through Beauty.com, the inspiration behind the looks were post-apocalyptic warriors stranded in a desert. Voluminous and textured hair with bare lips, accented eyes and neutral nails were the models’ uniforms, although each model had a distinct look. To say Rachel Comey thinks outside the box would be an understatement. Rather than using models, Comey’s ready to wear collection debuted using dancers from the Robbinschilds choreography group. With a diverse group of dancers to model the clothing, natural beauty and nudes were key, with little pops of warrior princess shining through the eye makeup.
Lead hair stylist James Pecis spoke to us about his go to product PHYTO and his take on post-apocalyptic, yet stylish hair. Pecis said, “the idea is that they’re all supposed to be desert-dwellers and post-apocalyptic travellers and a nod to that was through the textured hair. The main look focused on dividing hair into five sections and tying it into knots. We start off by using Phytovolume Actif to prep the hair to give it a little bit more texture and use the Phyto Professional Matte Texturizing Paste…it’s matte, but it gives a little bit of traction to the hair preventing the knots from slipping out. There’s other girls, who we wanted to keep the natural texture of their hair and bring it out a bit so we hit it with a curling iron and break it apart a little bit. Different girls have different looks, but it all kind of involves a drier texture, maybe a braid of some sort or a knot in the hair, or brought out curls.”
Lead nail artist Nonie Creme, founding creative director at Butter London, gave us the inside scoop into the lackluster color scheme for the model’s nails. Even with muted colors, Nonie found a way to contrast the shades of color with the models, “obviously there’s a heavy theme of individuality going on back here-extremely diverse group of people and we decided there was no point trying to do a statement nail because it would have to be so specific and there was no time to figure out what was the look for 30 girls so we chose a desert neutral. We did a fairly skincentric story, but not total matches – kind of opaque nudes. It’s interesting today though because it’s more about trying to make the hands and feet not match so we try to match the hand to the model’s skin tone and on the feet we did what was the most opposite color of the three colors: a more gray tone, a more sandy tone and a more light pinky tone.”
Lead makeup artist Romy Soleimani broke down the four basic looks based on girls who are “in the desert, it’s dusty and dry with a lot of dry fabrics. They’re almost part of different sects of cults. Rachel Comey is as much of an artist as she is a designer so we want to interpret that in the makeup so in one look there’s a kind of khaki and bronzey eye and almost a black tattoo in the inner corner of the eye. In another look there’s a black line with a peach colored linear sunset on the eye and another look based on Louise Nevelson, who’s an artist, so it’s got a really messed up wingy eye. the idea is that it’s really about personal expression- these women are dancers and artists and it’s all about linking all of Rachel’s ideas into all these characters. Basically it’s very linear and abstract and painterly, we are lucky enough to work with Jurlique and bareMinerals. bareMineral’s old school tap and swirl is perfect for this situation because want the girls quite matte and we really want that dusty feeling. The focus is on the eyes, nothing on the lips. We want the girls to feel really cool and easy…they have their little thing, for these girls their thing is a little bit quirkier.”
With a fancy dinner setting to offset the grunge aesthetic of the Brooklyn warehouse, Rachel Comey’s Spring 2016 RTW collection made a fashionably fun entrance at New York Fashion Week.
Key Products Used:
- Phytovolume Actif Volumizing Spray
- Phyto Professional Matte Texturizing Paste
- Phytolaque Soie Hairspray
- Jurlique Rosewater Balancing Mist
- Jurlique Calendula Redness Rescue Soothing Moisturizing Cream
- Jurlique Rose Love Balm.
- Jurlique Purely Age-Defying Firming Face Oil
- Jurlique Rose Moisture Replenishing Day Cream
- Jurlique Herbal Recovery Advanced Eye Serum
- Jurlique Purely Bright Eye Correcting Cream
- Jurlique Lavender Silk Finishing Powder
- Pure Brightening Serum Foundation
- Original Foundation.
- bareMinerals Frame & Define Brow Styler
- Jurlique Rose Love Balm
- bareMinerals Round the Clock Intense Cream-Glide Eyeliner
- bareMinerals Lash Domination Volumizing Mascara
- bareMinerals Ready Bronzer
- bareMinerals Ready Eyeshadow 8.0 Palette in Power Neutrals
- bareMinerals Blue Eyecolor Eyeshadow in Snowflake
- bareMinerals Lasting Line Long-Wearing Eyeliner
- bareMinerals Liner Shadow in Onyx
- bareMinerals Gorgeous Glide Liner Brush
- bareMinerals Marvelous Moxie Lip Liner in Energized
- Ready Bronzer
- Ready Eyeshadow 8.0 Palette in Power Neutrals
- Nonie Creme Colour Prevails Nail Lacquer in Frenemy
- Nonie Creme Colour Prevails Nail Lacquer in Wardrobe Staple
