Fashion Week Pt.2 // UNTTLD. VAWK|VAWKKIN. EXPRESS.
The first show of my day was for UNTTLD. A clothing line that consistently errs on the unique and unusual side of beautiful, I was excited to speak with designers José Manuel St -Jacques and Simon Bélanger to see what they had in mind. In one of the funnest collaborations of the week, I had a great conversation with Simon about how he viewed their latest collection. Inspired by post-war Japan and the arts and culture that emerged from the era, the clothing and show drew from such works of Japanese performance art as Butoh dance and Kabuki theatre. In these forms of art, it was common for Japanese women to wear nail protectors, specifically on their last two fingers.
This bit of history was all I needed to get my excitement stirring. Mimicking this fierce element of tradition, I gave all of the models a set of nails to be feared. The running joke backstage was "Do NOT mess with the UNTTLD models" and I'm sure you can see why.
The team from Pinky's Nails was able to order in nails straight from the source (Japan) to outfit the hands for this show. With the strongest design element being the elongated ring and pinky fingers, I kept the colour simple, yet effective. Welded with two coats of Essie's "No Place Like Chrome", the nails gleamed under the catwalk lights and caused a stir of opinions from the audience. After all, who could ignore them?
The second show of the day was a two-for-one. VAWK and VAWKKIN are the sister fashion lines of designer Sunny Fong. VAWK, being the older and more glamourous of the two, had a Madonna and Spanish inspired collection. Paired with rich gold accessories and bold red accents, the nail had to reflect a woman both passionate and strong. VAWKKIN, his ready-to-wear collection, was catered to every woman, both old and young, who wanted to fashionably rock the business world. It appeared the collections emulated two sides of a fierce woman, so I decided to have the nails do the same. The VAWK|VAWKKIN nails are a great example of how colour changes everything.
The VAWKKIN nail featured a flesh-toned polish, courtesy of an Essie blend featuring "Blanc" & "Mamba", with a thin black stripe of "Licorice". Atop of an almond shaped nail, the design was simple, yet made a statement. It is everyday appropriate and gives a basic nail look some edge. It was important to myself and Sunny that the flesh tone polish matched the model's skin exactly. Therefore, we provided another few sets featuring a darker hue. This is was made simple by adding Essie's "Mink Muffs" to our original blend.
The VAWK nail needed more glamour and a stronger statement; after all, it was inspired by Madonna. Using the same design, I added a strong metallic element by laying Essie polishes "Good as Gold" and "Buy me a Cameo" to make a metallic nude atop of the long oval nails. Using a thicker stroke than VAWKKIN, I finished the nail with a line of bold red, "Russian Roulette". The nail sets for both shows were the perfect "finishing touch", however, someone else may have taken the cake in the accessory department. That somebody was accessory designers Niki & Lola who brought Madonna to WMC Fashion week. See the whole show here.
The last set of the day, and the grand finale for World Mastercard Fashion Week, was EXPRESS. For this particular show, it was insisted that the models wear no press-on nails; the polish had to be applied on the spot. Good thing they chose one of my favourites, "Chinchilly". Like all Essie shades, this chic granite grey applied beautifully with two thin coats and dried-like-a-dream with "Good to Go" topcoat. Featuring the music of Calvin Harris, The Black Keys, Foster the People and Rihanna, the EXPRESS show had the best runway soundtrack of the week.
Nothing felt more satisfying than watching the last model walk the runway. Success! I was so proud to play a role in the event. It was an honour to represent Essie, to work with the Pinky's Nails team and to meet and work alongside all of the ridiculously talented designers and creative teams behind some of the most beautiful collections I've had the honour of gawking at. Next year I'll just have to trade, nail designs for clothing. What do you say VAWK?...Ashtiani?...
I leave you with some of my favourite Instagram photos of the week. Enjoy!
This stunning beauty was a showstopper at the VAWKKIN show and walked the length of the runway to full applause. Sorry girls, she wore this set the best. A great compliment was seeing the models leave the venue still wearing my nails. Behind the curtain before a show, you need to be ready to replace any missing nails before the model is shoved onto the runway...anyone need an extra few for the VAWK|VAWKKIN show? wink*Working the dream job, you don't expect absolutely EVERYTHING to be amazing...and then this happens: running into a long lost BFF. Lucky is a magician make-up artist and one of the funniest babes I know. See her work hereThe EXPRESS show carried the weight of a certain Canadian supermodel. This "Doll face" was "Chinchilly"d with the rest of 'em and closed Fashion Week with style. See a familiar face in the line-up?
aaand I'm done. Curtsey*
images courtesy of Essie Canada/ Wade Hudson & Greg Pimentel