Saturday, February 28, 2009

NEW YORK FASHION WEEK

Holy smoke bat dudes and dudesses,
New York fashion week was a whirlwind of frocks and frufru from beginning to end...
I arrived in NYC on Friday night, the first day of New York Fashion Week for the Fall collections 09. I got the green light from TVNZ just 24 hours before I was due to leave and had to frantically arrange flights, media passes, accommodation, transport, a camera man, pack my tools, cut my hair, iron my Sunday best, organise the kids and get to the airport in time.
For anyone that watches my TV spot on Monday morning on GoodMorning on TV1, you'll notice that in my haste I forgot to trim my beard and I look like some kind of hairy monster from the deep!
Saturday started with the Tony Coviello show, off site in an amazing three story residence in midtown on the west-side. The hair was very romantic with soft waves created by setting the hair on large curling tongs with Redken's Workforce 09 and brushing it through once it cooled with a Mason-Pearson  type brush. Lead stylist Rodney Cutler, owner of Cutler Salon in New York was on form demonstrating the look to the team with ease. The hair was parted low on one side and secured with exposed bobby pins (or slides).
The show was more like an installation where the girls posed on podiums individually in one room, and then as a group with the designer in another room.

The early starts and the cold crisp clear days of Manhattan meant that I had to rug up warm and it was lucky that the boys from Huffer hooked me up with a few nice warm coats from their new fishing inspired collection. New York's fashionista were intrigued with Huffer and I'd say they'll go pretty good when they hit the US proper.

The week was a blur of running from show to show and trying to cover every detail of backstage as well as the shows themselves. The highlights were too many to mention, one of which was working on the Diane Von Furstenberg show with lead stylist Teddy Charles. The hair was beautiful, a slightly grungy, dishevelled wave which offset and enhanced DVF's beautiful flowing frocks perfectly. Amongst the backstage cacophony of accents and languages from all over the world, I heard the welcome sound of the New Zild lilt when Kiwi up and coming model Georgia from Clyne Models in Auckland popped up with a hearty, hey, I know yew!

I really enjoyed working alongside Yannick D'is on the Brian Reyes show. Yannick created a sleek sophisticated look for this show. A French pleat in the back, pulled tight and clean through the sides with height in the top. This look was built by setting the hair on large curling tongs with Redken Workforce 09 and then brushing the hair smooth before pulling it tight into a French pleat and securing it with U-pins. the top was then back-combed and brushed through while adding more Redken Workforce 09 to smooth the surface before it was gathered at the crown and pinned into place. It was quite a tense energy backstage as the look took a long time to create, and Yannick needed to touch up most of the looks himself.  The final result was a glamorous, sophisticated look that was perfect for a serious night out at a high society event.

I had the opportunity to get my new Generation V flat iron into the hands of some of the world's best hairstylists and the feedback was amazing! Teddy Charles loved the look and feel, and the performance speaks for itself. Being dual-voltage means that it's the perfect tool for these celebrity stylists who travel the globe creating looks for celebrities like Sarah Jessica-Parker, Halle Berry etc.

New York loves our new tools, and I love New York!

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