Direct from the Runway: Reem Acra Fall 2009

Femininity was the order of the day at Reem Acra. As the designer walked around backstage with her adorable little dog, checking to make sure her gorgeous gowns were ready to go and making last-minute adjustments, the hair and makeup were unbelievably chic and sophisticated. Laurent Philippon from Bumble and bumble and Polly Osmond from M.A.C were there to make the models look like goddesses. Not too hard when the gowns were so beautiful! Get all the details after the jump.





"The theme is kind of goddess," Osmond told me as she finished the makeup test backstage. "It's a very natural look, focusing more on highlighting and shading. It's very pretty, it's kind of easy, wearable. Just glossy."

Osmond created the look using just a few products on the eyes and skin. What's interesting about the look is that she used blush, foundation and lipgloss on the eyes to really bring out the natural highlights. She used Face and Body, taupe blush, Root Cream Color Base and lipgloss on the lids and under the eyes. She then curled the lashes and used a bit of Black X Mascara.

To make the skin look dewy and fresh, Osmond used Face and Body and Butty Nutter Shadestick on the temples, bridge of nose and chin, finishing with a bit of gloss texture. She finished with a bit of concealer, Shy Girl Lipstick and Boy Bait Lipglass on the lips.

"Nothing too heavy," Osmond said. "All kind of monotone, and [it] creates that kind of one color on the eye, one color on the lip."



The hair, created by Laurent Philippon, was exquisite. The side chignon with a very low part "really frames the face in a special way," Philippon told me. "It's a very sophisticated hairstyle. It's not grungy. It's very sleek, very red carpet."

He told me that the key to the hairstyle was this very low part. "It's unusually low," he said. After drawing this part, which was at the outer corner of the model's eye, he created a side ponytail on the opposite side, leaving the lobe out "because the earrings are very important and we want to see the lobe." After blowdrying with a flat brush, he wetted the hair right on the part with Bumble and bumble Styling Lotion before gathering it into a ponytail. He then wetted a small section of hairspray with Bumble and bumble Spray de Mode before wrapping it around the ponytail to hide the elastic. And that's when the magic of the chignon happened!



"The finish of this hairstyle is very interesting because it's very sleeked, it's very clean," Philippon said. "But the freshness comes from the fact that it doesn't look glued. It's still very structured, it's very sophisticated. But the quality of the finish, you feel like there's no hairspray -- and there isn't much!"



Philippon also told me, "It has to in a way look spontaneous. It's really just a little twist. It's not the kind of hairstyle you can do at home." Looks like we'll be seeing a lot of this on the red carpet!



Nails were headed by Angi Wingle's team at Creative Nail Design. After applying a base coat (Ridge Out if the girls needed it, Stickey otherwise), the nails were lightly buffed and then polished with a coat of Cocoa for a natural look.