WHEN STYLISH MAKE-UP MAKES THE MANE COURSE
Feroze Gujral

Today I saw make-up take centre stage in almost all the shows I attended – be it Vijay Arora’s retro chic look accentuated with heavy eye-shadow or the futuristic Dr Spock eyebrows, especially crafted by Jojo for Aparna Chandra and Puja Nayyar’s show.

It was all there – taking place in front of my eyes – as I strolled through the backstage, catching up with frantic models as they started to get ready for the shows. While I was there before Aparna Jagdhari, Poonam Bhagat and Rehana’s show hit the ramp, I saw Ambika Pillai, Delhi’s celebrated make-up artist, work on giving the models a striking look with a very strong focus on the eyes. Ambika accentuated their eyelids a smoky black and highlighted their eyebrows with a metallic sheen. She then ran a white pencil under the eye with just a hint of faded eyeliner on the lower lid completing the effect.

The lips were left nude with just a hint of gloss. The whole look was light-hearted, the effect ably conveyed by the use of pink on the apples of the cheeks. Obviously the look worked as was apparent from the appreciation for the make-up!

The next show was Aparna Chandra and Puja Nayyar’s, which was as different in terms of looks from the earlier show, as is chalk from cheese. Jojo decided to give the audience the shock effect and gave the eye a look that was very reminiscent of the Star Trek series. The models in the green room were visibly excited about the look, which comprised very strong Mr Spock eyebrows going up to the temples. The eyelids were coloured a very strong carmine colour with a strip of white under the eyebrows. Jojo decided to leave the lips light, allowing the focus to be on eyes. The idea of using soda cans to accessorise the hair had most of the models in splits but many were also curious to see what the final look would be like. The use of cans also helped ease some of the tension backstage, giving the models a chance to fool around for a while and have some fun. Fortunately for them, Jojo’s make-up and the entire look was simply stunning and definitely one of the highlights of the day. Red eyelids and soda cans in the hair – how much more futuristic can one get!

So with the light-hearted and futuristic behind me, I didn’t know what to expect from Vijay Arora’s show. Backstage I bumped into one of my favourite make up artists, Cory Walia who was incidentally also awarded the Strokes of Brilliance (Make-up Artist of the Day) award yesterday for the bohemian look created for the Rocky S show. Exchanging notes with him, I learnt that he’d decided to lend variation of a retro ’80’s look to complement Vijay’s collection. Using a strong black, bronze and pewter combo, Cory and his team recreated the eye-shadow look. He filled the eyelids fully and gave the lips a metallic taupe colour with strong gloss. Since Vijay wanted his collection to portray unstructured elegance, Cory decided to go the same route with make up, with the neat but not too neat a look. The collection and everything associated with it – the make-up, the models, the backstage preparations and clothes, announced only one thing – attitude.

That was the end of my sojourn at the Lakmé India Fashion Week and I sat back to enjoy the stunning looks that were being created backstage, dazzle the audience! One word sums up the creativity of the people behind the stage – brilliance!