All the best beauty secrets are shared backstage.
I made a quick trip to Melbourne for the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival (VAMFF) and got to snoop around backstage. Unlike other fashion weeks, VAMFF is a consumer fashion festival where you can buy all the collections on the runway as they are currently in store. So instead of a preview of new designer collections, it’s a celebration of current fashion and beauty trends.
It’s fun to watch a runway show knowing you can head straight to the stores and buy the clothes, but I love to head behind the scenes.
Seeing the work that goes into a show that only lasts a few minutes gives you a whole new view on fashion. So many people work for hours (and unpaid) to make the magic happen on the runway.
5 beauty secrets I learned backstage at VAMFF
1. It takes a lot of makeup to get that “no makeup” look
The same goes for hair. To get that “I woke up like this” hair you need to use a lot of product. For the team backstage it is a complex task. The models all have different hair types and the team have to work out how to make them all look exactly the same. It’s reassuring to know that no one wakes up looking like that.
2. Lipstick is a multi use product
To create a cohesive lip and cheek colour, apply lipstick to the apples of your cheeks. When the focus was on the eyes, especially with a big winged liner or smoky eye, the lips and cheeks were kept tonal by applying a little lipstick as blush. This is a fab trick for real life and means you only need to carry one product for touch ups. As a side note, I’m very excited about winged eyeliner coming back in a big way.
3. Hat elastic is better than normal hair elastics
To get that perfect ponytail, they get the ponytail in place and then tie it with hat elastic to secure it. Trying to pull a pony through a hair elastic is too messy. You really need a friend to help with this at home, or hair bungees are the next best thing.
4. Models need to protect their feet
Compeed blister packs are essential for models. Beauty is pain and when you see models’ feet you wince at the sight. They are worse than ballerinas’ feet. I took a photo but it’s too awful to post. Think about the worst blister you ever had, then put on heels one size too small and wear them for a week. Normal band-aids won’t cut it when you have to strut in several pairs of shoes that don’t fit you. Proper blister protection that protects and heals your poor heels is a must.
5. You need to adapt Runway makeup looks for everyday
Catwalk makeup is designed to look good under super bright lights and from a distance. A bit like stage makeup. So when you wear the exact same look on the street it all looks too much. Catwalk makeup is also designed to last for only a few hours (if that). Take inspiration from the makeup but adapt it to your day (or night).
With Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia (MBFWA) coming up next week I’m excited to head backstage again to spy on next season’s trends!
What tips would you like to learn from backstage? What would you like to see from Hair Romance at MBFWA?
I need to buy some hair bungees, because they sound really handy. I have long, thick hair, and the way I get a smooth ponytail is to use a barrette to form the ponytail first, because I can just hold my hair up with one hand and use the other to clip the barrette it around all my hair. Then I’m able to twist an elastic above the barrette and take out the barrette. Because my hair is really thick, I use the largest barrette I could find, the kind that has a metal kind of half-moon shape inside between the clip and the plastic top, and I modified it by taking out that inner piece of metal. That allows me to hold all my hair at once in the clip. Otherwise I don’t think it would fit. Anyway, I’m able to get consistently smooth ponytails using that method! Before I stumbled across it, I was always dealing with lumpy ponytails.
That’s a really clever trick with the barrette Elizabeth! You will LOVE hair bungees. They are designed for your hair.
I always get blisters but it never occurred to me that models would have worst feet than ballerinas! Going backstage sounds like so much fun so jealous 🙂
I love going backstage. It was nerve-wracking at first as I wasn’t sure where to stand so I wasn’t in the way but now I just get right in there 😉 There are lots of work related injuries for models – being burned by curling wands, skin caught in zippers during a quick change, skin reactions to all the makeup, etc etc. They really go through a lot during fashion week.