Last night saw the start of the battle of the retailers showcasing their Autumn/Winter collections. With 230 stunning looks hitting the runway, David Jones played some very high cards.
Partnering with The Sydney Dance Company, guests were taken on a journey with designs from both Australian and (for the first time) some of the retailers International partners. With a powerfully combined engagement from both the dancers and statuesque models, an overall powerful display of the rich decadence of the Autumn/Winter season was displayed.
Newly appointed ambassador for David Jones, Jesinta Campbell, stood out amongst the in-sync model cast, as she too walked the runway amongst fellow fashion ambassadors Montana Cox and Jessica Gomes.
Jesinta had a chat with me about what to expect this season at David Jones…
“Im feeling really excited to be more creative this season with styling and Autumn/Winter can almost be more theatrical – lots of layering textures like leather and suede, it makes fashion interesting. Rich tones are always a hit, but this season burgundy is a big trend and we are seeing thigh high boots and long coats with a Victorian era twist to each look.”
Jesinta likes to start her look with some winter shoes, and then work up from there… She also suggests to experiment with new looks to make fashion fun.
Her favourite piece this season would be a Long Lined Coat – they almost hit the floor and can be worn with almost anything, anywhere.
As for Beauty, Jesinta loves the unstructured look with hair this season…
“The almost undone, textured look for hair is great as it is easy to maintain. Then, with a polished brow and skin, to adding lots of lashes, your look is cool and complete. I am also loving a little pop of matte coral on the lip to brighten the winter fashion palette, it’s a pop, but the matte suits the Autumn Winter season.”
BEAUTY
Last night we saw beauty looks created by M.A.C Cosmetics and Aveda – both brands bringing new trends to life, but also making runway-to-reality a success.
M.A.C Cosmetics senior artist Carol Mackie really put emphasis this season on fresh, real like skin. Using something like the M.A.C Strobe cream before you apply foundation will give you a big boost of radiance, so foundation has a spotlight effect, making it appear more natural than covering.
Lashes and lots of de-constructed lashes – almost a doll like look to the eyes are a big trend this season. Whether its apply more mascara and almost layering lashes into sections for a chunkier look, or apply individual lashes in all different sizes to create a real open eye look.
“The good thing about this trend is, you don’t have to have a perfect lash… It rounds and opens the eye by putting longer lashes through the centre area and smaller sections to the inner and outer corners – Hence the Doll Like look.
Mascara is a great way to section your own lashes, so it create this thicker, de-constructured approach.” Explains Carol.
To compliment and not pull focus from this lash trend, brows are naturally polished and not too ‘done’
Carol recommends the M.A.C brow set – A brow gel that can be combed upwards through the brow to create a lifting as well as a clean brow separation look. Colour is not always needed, but if you want more density, or a gap fill, a taupe shade can be used lightly. Brows this season are to lift, not pull focus.
All eye and lip tones were nude and fresh, letting the eyes have focus. Allowing the individual to add rich colour to the lip when needed for a particular fashion palette is not overpowering.
Aveda, a long time partner of David Jones, had one look for the night and it can be translated into reality very easily…
Terri Robertson-Kirkwood, creative director for Aveda explained that hair is undone, textured and much more relaxed in movement than previous seasons. The beach wave had huge success, and now we are seeing a simple softness to that, adding matte texture to identify with the Autumn Winter trends in fashion
“Prep is more low key than ever, with less time spent on a dead straight or bouncy blow dry, allowing a more relaxed smoothing of wet hair, rather than pulling it tight around a barrel brush. Aveda’s new Thickening Tonic is key for weightless volume, and then you are ready to add texture to create this runway look.’” Explains Terri.
Aveda has a new hero product to create this undone, matte texture – Shampure_ Dry Shampoo – A new technology that is not your typical aerosol spray, which can often be quite a forceful blast of unwanted powdery colour in your hair.
“This new dry shampoo doesn’t effect the colour of your hair at all, it is as simple as squeezing the packaging to then release a dry mist into your hair and work in.” says Terri.
Terri’s tip is to tong the hair loosely first for soft movement, not a curl… then, lift hair and separate while misting this product into hair and manipulate with your hands to get great texture and body where needed.
Overall, my advice is to accessorize and layer with fashion to make things interesting and then keep skin as well as brows polished, with a big focus on lashes accompanied with lash lash lashes…
Beauty doesn’t always need to look like a magazine cover… Think lived in and fresh, rather than done up and picture perfect – this also creates great individuality.