Like so many shows this season, the key word for beauty at Burberry Prorsum today was natural. It was hair and makeup designed to look like it had hardly been considered – though of course when the Cut went backstage, the beauty team led by makeup artist Wendy Rowe and hairstylist Neil Moodie were working hard to get it just right.
“It should look free-spirited, like the girls have done it themselves,” explained Rowe of the makeup look, using the back of her hand as an artist’s palette while she made up the models for the show. They included Suki Waterhouse, Malaika Firth, Jourdan Dunn, Cara Delevingne, and Edie Campbell, each with her eyes outlined in soft shadow, taken underneath the lower lashes for a worn-in effect. The color was described as aubergine, known to non-Brits as eggplant.
Rowe used a beige eyeliner to open the eye and give softness, curling the lashes and leaving the brows groomed but naked. Lips were painted “tulip pink” and skin was left almost nude, with a subtle, golden glow. “It’s fresh, like she’s been outside,” said Rowe. The goal, she added, was to keep the look believable and let the personality of the model shine through.
It was the same easy, low-maintenance story for hair. “What we’re doing is just spritzing it with Bumble and Bumble Tonic Lotion, for natural shine when we dry it – as though it’s a couple of days old and you’re just seeing natural oils from the hair,” explained Moodie. After drying the hair with a soft, fabric diffuser, he applied texture spray, “so that when she walks, it will be billowy and flyaway. She’s the gorgeous, sexy girl that everyone wants to be.”
The effect on the runway was a hazy layer of almost indiscernible frizz – as though each girl had been caught in a light rain shower and carried on with her day without a second thought. If being a free spirit this fall means worrying less about our hair, then go ahead and sign us up.