Beautygram: Alexander Wang’s Future Boys

Photo: Imaxtree

Brooklyn smelled like bleach yesterday, at least within a one-mile radius of the Duggal Greenhouse or the Navy Yards, whichever was easier for your Uber driver to put into his GPS. Several models took a “quiet” moment (as quiet as Alexander Wang’s backstage can be) and “relaxed” by sitting back and having their eyebrows bleached. The theme was weird, boyish futurism. As Diane Kendal for NARS Cosmetics explained, the makeup — with its monotone face and slightest hint of NARS Matte Multiple as an eye contour (out in spring 2014 in Altai, Vientiane, or Cappadoce) — was “futuristic, but still boyish for Alex. Cries of “no, weirder. Guido [Palau] wants the hair to be weirder,” were a constant refrain backstage.

Guido Palau, creative director for Redken, explained the “weird” hair this way: “Alex showed me his fashion illustrations and this hair was drawn on. I wanted it to look fake and unreal, so it has a weird boyishness kind of thing. He wanted it to feel pulled together in a simple way and not too normal.” Makeup was put on the hairline to make it look completely monotone. Redken’s Control Addict 28 and Shine Flash were both used to mold the hair into a stiff ponytail, with a severe rectangle front that was shaped to cut sharply across the forehead. In the finale, a select group of models, such as Candice Swanepoel and Anne V, stood on a rotating platform. Their hair was sprayed black on the top and left natural on the bottom. Nails were given a coat of Alexander Wang’s favorite colors, Essie’s cement-colored Sand Tropez, topped with a coat of Mademoiselle and a matte topcoat in Mad About You, for the slightest feminine kick. Welcome to Tomorrowland beauty.

Beautygram: Alexander Wang’s Future Boys