Backstage Beauty, Hair & Makeup at NYFW S/S `14: Zang Toi

Model Ling at Zang Toi S/S `14 NYFW, sports beautiful and soft blue on her eyes, nude lips and bold brows. The skin is left flawless with Amazing Cosmetics by Rudy Miles, lead Makeup Artist. Photo Credit: John M. Craig for René Furterer

Backstage beauty is super fun during NYFW. It's where all the action is and though massively chaotic (imagine dizzying amounts of flat irons, nail polishes and liquid foundations are being thrown willy-nilly all over picnic tables and stylists of every type are running like chickens with their heads cut off, and shouting in a setting like a crowded train station at rush hour) - the adrenaline of new fashion to be seen and created is adrenaline pumping.

I had the pleasure of interviewing a long time colleague, awesome hair guru Eiji Yamane, whom I'd known since my days at Issey Miyake. He was lead hair stylist for the Zang Toi show, where the collection was inspired by dance, and themed BALLET BABE. I also had great fun meeting Rudy Miles of BeautybyRudy, lead makeup - who created a look anchored around a soft but bold blue eye that was elegant but striking:

Eiji's Ballet Babe Hair How-To:

Eiji, lead Hair Stylist, uses an old fashioned curling iron to create sumptuous curls and romance for his bold but elegant chignons - for "Ballet Babe" - Zang Toi's fashion theme. Photo Credit: John M. Craig for René Furterer

Eiji's hair creations were a mix of classic, romantic Hollywood crimp curls, gently set into, slightly edgier chingons, with side and middle parts. Each look took about 20 minutes to create. Rene Furterer (I love his products!) was the exclusive hair product used. Here's the step by step how-to:

1) Begin by making a clean center part, misting hair with water before giving hair a blow-out. To give hair more body and hold, I worked in a little René Furterer VEGETAL SCULPTING GEL while blow-drying hair using a Mason Pearson brush to give hair a smooth finish.

2) Leaving hair on the sides free, I gathered the rest of the hair behind the ears and made a low ponytail, spraying hair with René Furterer VEGETAL FINISHING SPRAY for a flexible hold. Next, I secured the ponytail with a skinny hair tie, and then tood a section of hair from the ponytail, wrapping it from left to right around the base of the ponytail to hide the hair tie and tucking in a few hair pins for extra hold.

3) Using the end of a rat-tail comb like a pick, I lightly lifted the hair above the ponytail to keep it from going flat at the back of the head.

4) To create the finger waves on the sides, I took sections of the loose hair from each side of the middle part. One at a time I sprayed the sections with René Furterer LISSEA thermal protecting smoothing spray. This helps protect the hair against the heat from the curling iron. Using a medium-barrel curling iron; I rolled the section toward the head.

The sheer beauty of the exquisite chignon, Eiji's creation.
Photo Credit: John M. Craig for René Furterer

5) After releasing the iron, I combed through the curl and then crimped it with the curling iron to give it more bend, going down the length of the curled section at half-inch intervals. Now the sections were more of a wave than a loose curl. After curling, combing and crimping the sections on each side, I gathered the hair and to bring it behind the ear, taking care to cover the ears and shaping the sections in a classic finger wave pattern. Next, I secured the waves on both sides with several clips. Then misted the sides with René Furterer VEGETAL FINISHING SPRAY to set the waves while I work on creating the chignon.

6) Spraying the ponytail with René Furterer's VEGETAL FINISHING SPRAY, I brushed through the length of the hair with the brush. If the hair needed a smoother finish I went over the ponytail with a flat iron. To make the Ballet Babe chignon, I took the ponytail, made a big loop and rolled it toward the base of the ponytail so that the finished chignon sat on the nape of the neck. This results in a full, dramatic chignon. To maximize fullness, I lightly fanned it out a little with my fingers or use the tail and teeth of a rattail comb to finesse the shape.

7) The Ballet Babe chignon calls for long, thick tresses, so if a model has shorter hair we faked it with beautiful 100% human hair extensions from Fantasy Fashion Hair. Whether faux or real, all chignons were given a final misting with René Furterer VEGETAL FINISHING SPRAY. Lastly, the waves were unclipped and were ready for the runway.

-- N.C.

Disclaimer: Nuy Cho has no affiliation to any of the beauty companies mentioned on www.nuybeauty.com.