Direct from the Runway: Vena Cava Fall 2009

Vena Cava was one of my favorite shows so far during Fall 2009 Fashion Week for tons of reasons. First of all, the clothing is totally right up my alley. The collection was this amazing mix of punk rock chic, with tie-dyed tights and lots of gorgeous greens and blacks. Secondly, the nail polish used was a new deep hunter green by Butter London. And thirdly ... and my most favorite part ... the hair was done by none other than my Facebook bestie and former featured hairstylist on The Beauty of Life, the one and only Ted Gibson. Get all the details on the look, plus tons of photos from the presentation, after the jump.



"Downtown, chic, trendy young girl. Vena Cava really exemplifies that," Ted Gibson told me. "It has that fantastic sensibility on the way that the young woman of new york city wants to dress. She can be from the East Village to the West Village to Tribeca. I always think that hair kind of is dictated by clothes. I think that clothes play an important part in the image of the designer. And when you’re working with the designer and what it is that they want to create, I think it’s important to have that kind of philosophy."



To get the look here, which Gibson was calling "rockabilly chic," you need lots of his Tame it Shine Lotion and Fix it Gel. "It's not necessarily a full pompadour but it is kind of that feeling," he said. "Think about normally what pompadours look like, they’re very high and not necessarily slicked back." He began by backcombing the front and top of the hair to give it some height, then used Fix it Gel on the sides to keep it secure and make sure that the sides stayed back, and finished with Tame it Shine Lotion to create the texture in the hair, scrunching it in for a roughed up look. "We’re not exactly doing the 80s but we’re doing a new version of what the 80s pompadour looked like," he said. He finished the look off with Beautiful Hold Hairspray to keep it in place.

"It’s kind of like that girl who went out dancing all night, and she decided that after work she was gonna go out again," Gibson told me. "And when she decided to go out again, she said, 'Okay, well I can’t wear the same hair that I wore the night before, so what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna use some gel, and I’m gonna slick the sides back, and I’m gonna create some texture in my hair by using a shine lotion, I’m gonna call it a day and I’m ready to go out.'"



If you want to translate this look to every day, Gibson said you don't necessarily have to backcomb the hair, and you can just slick back the sides without the top, creating just a bit of texture with the shine lotion. No matter how you wear the style, be sure not to use any water, since it will dry too fast to really make a difference in the final look.

Worried that big hair isn't going to look good on you? "I think it’s always a trend," Gibson told me. "I don’t know any woman that doesn’t want to be sexy. I realy don’t."

The gorgeous green polish on the nails was by Butter London -- a new shade called British Racing Green. It was inspired by the Vena Cava clothing, which had this exact shade sprinkled throughout. A solution that went over the color made it look a little murky and not quite as shiny, and it had a bit of gradation instead of appearing flat on the nail.





Makeup was created by the legendary Vincent Longo. He sought to balance the dark and muted hues of the fabric in Vena Cava's collection with a bright, eye-catching face, creating a burst of excitement with a thick orange eyeliner layered with a black liner on top. This provided depth and definition for the eyelashes. He then thickened and contoured the brows to frame the face, and finished the look with a natural lip and matte, porcelain complexion.






Here are some more pictures from the presentation: