Welcome to the craziest week of the year!
Kansas City Fashion Week officially kicked off last night at the Gallery Event Space in the Power & Light District of KCMO.
The Boutique Sponsor Showcase, featuring fashions from local and beloved shops such as Saks Fifth Avenue Off Fifth; Zafar Salon, Spa & Boutique; The Garment District; R Treasures Boutique; Clothz Minded; and Chocolate Soup.
Saks Fifth Avenue Off Fifth asked for styling direction from local bloggers, including Jess Afshar of Mimi & Chichi; Megan Davey of Chasing Davies; and Erin Barnes of Pretty, Polished, Perfect.
{It’s not easy to round up a bunch of models backstage, but here’s a good portion of them! Find more pics of all the models later today on the blog and on Facebook.}
While each blogger had four models to dress (three girls and one boy each), yours truly provided creative direction for the hair and makeup artists to complete the look for the nine lady models.
Let me tell you about daunting!
After the stylists dressed each model on Tuesday night in prep for Wednesday’s show, I furiously wrote down the look, from hair to makeup to nails, for each girl to have completed by their artists. Here’s how they turned out:
{I specifically asked for those fun swirled eyes to help mimic the look on Jasmine’s dress that you’ll see later. I also wanted her gorgeous lips to appear as full as possible with deep coloring and sheen. And of course, with a flashy gold dress on, I wanted her hair to be big and bold to really make a statement.}
{Hilari wore a classic shift dress in simple black and white, so I wanted her makeup and hair to be as neat as possible. A bold red lip captures attention while a sleek top knot keeps the focus on her beautiful face.}
{Laura wore a curve-hugging cobalt blue dress with a peplum waist. To mimic the motion around her waist, her stylist Erin and I agreed that a bouffant ‘do would bring that volume back up to her hair and keep the focus on the way the dress moves from top to bottom. I wanted her skin (she has pretty freckles) to really show through, so we kept her face as natural and defined as possible.}
{I loved Reighann’s edgy look, with a fur vest and short, leather, studded skirt. This outfit called for flirty waves but subtle makeup. Gold, shimmery lips kept the focus on her hair, while well-defined cat eyes helped her achieve that “come hither” look.}
{Candy has beautiful bone structure that I wanted to play up with light contouring, well-defined eye makeup with lots of dimension and a deep berry lip. We made her features pop while pulling back her blonde locks into a tight top knot.}
{April’s mocha skin tone wears makeup beautifully. I played with bubble gum pink on her lips to bring out the pink tones in the scarf she wore. Just-pinched cheeks kept her look fresh and sweet, while super-long lashes and black eyeshadow gave her some edge.}
{Tina is my little firecracker. She’s short and sassy, and I wanted to play up her bright fuschia dress and blue motorcycle jacket with big hair, bold eye makeup and berry-stained lips. She is ready for the club!}
{Arica rocked head-to-toe navy, and with bright red hair, this look called for some subtle lips (peach shimmer) and deep teal eyeliner and falsies to bring out her eyes.}
{Holly has such a defined bone structure that I really wanted to play up her cheeks. We got them contoured so they pop, and to keep the eye moving up her face, we created small animal prints outside her eyes to mimic the animal print belt she wore with her outfit. To frame the face, we thickened her eyebrows for a fierce, bold look.}
