Jean Paul Gaultier Fashion Party at Rockwood

As always at any fashion show it's rare that anything runs smoothly or on time. There's always the stress, drama, egos, and juicy fashion gossip. Well, last night at the JPG party it was no different. Why do we make-up artists/hair stylists do it you ask? Because as much as we hate it we love it! There's a certain creative energy in the air during a fashion show that we artists crave. We feed off each other and are inspired by one another's work.

Key make-up artist Ivy Lam is the wonderful artist that organized our team and created the beautiful look for the night. She was given very little information to begin with and was told the clothes would be from the Fall/Winter 2007 collection. The lighting was probably the worst I'd ever had to work with. We did the make-up using the club lights. Apparently they didn't have main lights but I think the owner was just being cheap. The look Ivy created for the female models, all from NAM Modeling Agency, was dark khol rimmed eyes, champagne colours on the lids, rusty orange in the crease winged out to almost to the temple, neutral cheeks, and glossy nude lips. The male models were touched up with a bit of concealer, powder, bronzer, highlighter, and lip balm.

After all the models were done and the clothes arrived we found out that the models would be wearing the Spring/Summer 2007 collection instead. The stylist and organizer Lulu wanted more colour on the cheeks in the rusty orange we used on the eyes and wanted the guys eyes to be lined with black liner. JPG Spring/Summer 2007 collection is boho chic with a twist of Native American thrown in. His line has a lot of colour and patterns which is why Ivy created a look that wouldn't compete with the clothes. The guys weren't too thrilled they had to wear liner and we weren't either. It just didn't seem right for the look, but as always it's what the client wants that comes first.

The models lined up to get retouched and weren't thrilled about it. Ivy, Mila, and I had to sit through their bitching and complaining about having to be there so long especially since it was not a paid event. Ok, there's was only about 2 girls that were being divas which I will get into on my next post.

After all our hardwork, us make-up artists and my husband that took the pictures for the event got to enjoy the fruits of our labour with complimentary drinks upstairs in the club. The turnout was a little smaller than expected due to the unexpected snow storm and the Versace party that was going on at another venue. The music was amazing and the crowd was pretty, fashionable, and pumped. The models were scheduled to come out at 11 pm but didn't make an entrance until midnight. We had assumed there would be a runway but instead the models were told to stand in certain areas mingling and dancing. I thought a runway would have been a better idea to show case the clothes because the models all clung to each other and you couldn't really see the clothes. They did, however, all come out at once and danced in the middle of the dance floor while we all stopped and watched. I thought it was pretty amusing and cheesy at the same time. We are at a club and the majority of them are in high school and us adults are watching them trying to be sexy and seductive. Something about that felt strangely wrong. They stayed out there for 10 minutes maximum and scurried off back downstairs. Some of them looked embarrassed and unsure of what to do. I felt kind of bad for them, but not really haha.

Our crew left right after the models made an appearance. We just wanted to stay and see the final product which turned out being anti-climatic. All in all, we had fun and it was just great to work side by side Ivy and Mila. I thought some of the models were great but the majority of them just didn't know how to sell the clothes and that's what it's all about. What I also found odd was that the party was advertised as "Parisian Nite" but there was nothing "Parisian" about the night. Bad marketing?

Another fashion week come and gone. Can't wait to do this all again in October!