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The 10 Big Spring Trends of 2012

Miriam Lacey — Sun, 06 May 2012 09:30:00 BST

This year has already shaped up to be one full of vivid color and experimental shapes. But there have been a lot of natural and classical looks thrown into the mix as well. See the top 10 runway trends that are so hot, they'll carry you way into Summer and Fall.

Source: The 10 Big Spring Trends of 2012

11 Gorgeous Spring Looks to Try Right Now

Miriam Lacey — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 09:30:00 BST

Spring is here, and if you're feeling uninspired with your daily beauty routine, look to the runway for inspiration. The 11 styles featured here are so versatile, you'll be wearing them well into Summer and beyond.

Source: 11 Gorgeous Spring Looks to Try Right Now

Camila Alves Debuts Her Sparkling Engagement Ring on the Red Carpet

Lauren Turner — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:56:42 GMT

Camila Alves looked gorgeous in a red dress with a cutout back as she posed on her way into QVC's runway show in NYC last night. All eyes were on Camila Alves's sparkling engagement ring, which she proudly displayed for the cameras. Camila and longtime boyfriend Matthew McConaughey became engaged over the holidays, but this is the first we've seen of the three-stone bauble. Camila and Matthew are just one of many cute celebrity couples in Hollywood, though Camila was without her man yesterday. New York Fashion Week officially starts today, but Camila helped kick off the festivities at the QVC event, which also saw support from Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen and Olivia Palermo.

The 25 Sexiest Styles From Paris Fashion Week

Hannah Weil — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 08:00:00 BST

Paris's Spring runways delivered a perfect variety of minidresses and skirts, flowy tops, skinny pants, and more in the way of cool glamour to fit our every definition of sexy. There are the obvious suggestions - Kanye West's plunging necklines, Balmain's microminis - but also sex appeal in subtler ways. Isabel Marant delivers minidresses topped with utility jackets. Nina Ricci gives us sheer tees to finish up a more ladylike look. Inside, we've rounded up 25 of the sexiest. Click through for our favorite designer interpretations of sexy for Spring 2012.

Source: The 25 Sexiest Styles From Paris Fashion Week

The Fashionable Supply Halloween-Worthy Inspiration at Carine Roitfeld's Irreverent Fête

Hannah Weil — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 09:30:00 BST

No, it's not Halloween quite yet, but last night Carine Roitfeld's book party gave good cause for her fashionable friends to suit up in appropriately dark costumewear. In honor of the book, aptly titled Irreverent, Paris Fashion Week's style crowd gathered in a slew of velvet, Gothic gowns, ghoulishly deep eye makeup that went far beyond the smoky eye, and an array of tongue-and-cheek apparel that humored Roitfeld's theme perfectly. With Halloween right around the corner, we're feeling particularly inspired by the decadently devilish looks. Some played it safer than others - Kanye, we're looking at you - but Carine, Ciara, Anja Rubik, and lots more embraced the call to otherworldly glamour with capes, crimson lips, and in some cases, a hint of (fake) blood. Click through to get inspired for your own spooky Halloween wear, and tell us your pick for the night's most fabulously irreverent.

Source: The Fashionable Supply Halloween-Worthy Inspiration at Carine Roitfeld's Irreverent Fête

David Koma Spring 2012

Jamie Roy — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:39:22 BST

Clothes: Hold onto your seats, because this clothing collection, hair, makeup and nails are on a whole new level. Up and coming designer David Koma spoke to be about an hour before his Spring 2012 runway show saying,

"My inspiration came from Polynesian tribes. The clothes are very futuristic and very modern. I wanted to take the skin art element from the tribes and develop them into prints to create a second skin. I was also inspired by Peter Janson sculptures and unusual movement. The iridescent in the clothing represents movement and the way that light changes everything."

Hair: Kenna, creative director for ghd also talks about how the models are channeling a futuristic tribe of girls whose hair represents the positive and negative paneling in David's clothes. The front is a simple, shiny arrow whilst the back is more complex. He achieved this look by sectioning hair into symmetric panels and binding them in the corners with twine elastic. Next, he connected all six of the panels into one ponytail. As a finishing touch, he straightened the ends and applied Final Fix Hairspray all over for hold and shine.

Makeup: Mel Arter was the main woman behind the team of MAC artists on hand. Again, since there was such a strong tribal theme in clothing, she wanted to emulate this style in the makeup, Mel said, "Think superhuman with lots of reflection." MAC Face and Body Foundation was used on the skin to keep it fresh and Luna Cream Colour Base was patted on the high cheekbone and nose as highlighter. Brows and lashes were left bare, but eyelids were coated in Clear Lip Glass to the brow and then blue reflective glitter was gently placed on top of the lash line. Fluidline Eyeliner in Waveline was drawn in the inner corner of the eyes and lastly, concealer was dabbed on the lips for a clean, muted look.

Nails: Marion Newman was the creative force behind these ultracool nails for Minx. Marion told me that she used devorè as her inspiration. "Devorè", she explained, "is a pattern in the fabric that looks burnt in. So nails are interpreting the devorè with a clear edge and a clear design with white etching that goes on top. Every dress has blockcolour in it (yellow, pink, blue), so exactly the same thing goes into the nails. Underneath is colour (to match the colour dress that the model is wearing) and then the devorè goes over."

Skin: Nichola Joss painted all of the models to a beautiful pale bronze iridescence, using St Tropez Wash-Off Tan followed by buffing Silver Rose Illuminator all over for a radiant finish.

Photos by Jamie Roy, FabSugarUK

Peter Pilotto Spring 2012

Jamie Roy — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 18:47:10 BST

It's Monday morning, and I'm back again at the old Eurostar train station to check out the latest collection from design duo Peter Pilotto and Christopher de Vos. The inspiration for Spring came from a trip to Indonesia. The exotic landscape and especially the leaves that overwhelmed the jungle, made such an impression on them, that they combined earthy looks with neoprene scuba materials to develop an eclectic yet feminine range.

Adrien Pinault was responsible for the natural, yet strong, Spring makeup style for MAC. ''Originally'', he said, ''Peter wanted to bring colour into the makeup to complement the collection, but ultimately we decided to tone down the face and keep it more unitone, as not to take away from the clothing.'' Adrien used Pink Rebel Lustre Drops mixed with Strobe Liquid Lotion on the skin before adding taupe blush to sculpt the cheeks. Then a bit of Dusk Cream Colour was applied to the cheeks, and loose powder was blotted onto the nose. The look is structured and contoured with transparent gloss on the lids and lips.

Hair was created by lead stylist Duffy to mimic the weaving and hatching dress-making elements. He used Frederic Fekkai Full Blown Volume all over and added water and hairspray to the back. The front was gelled before being styled and secured in place. What has been your favourite London Fashion Week show so far?

Photos by Jamie Roy, FabSugarUK

Paul Smith Spring 2012

Jamie Roy — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 23:22:02 BST

Lead makeup artist Petros Petrohilos set out to create the look of a "girl who was still wearing her makeup from last night" for the Paul Smith show this afternoon. He said, "This is what's left of it at least. A little gloss on her eyes, a barely there line just underneath her eyes, and dewy, sheer skin." The goal was to have a fresh, natural, and transparent complexion that reflects light and looks like skin is freshly moist. I'd say that Petros did a wonderful job on the models using Ebony Eye Pencil, Shine Mixing Medium, which is a MAC Pro product, and a new tinted lip balm called Tendertones in Hot and Spicy, which is due out for Spring.

Hair, however was a bit more complicated. Peter Gray, who admits to being a huge advocate of Moroccan Oil products said, "I spoke with Paul who was hoping to achieve the quintessentially English girl on a night out coming home from a club or a bar. She has a rock element but is also quite pretty." Peter used a curling iron in an unconventional way by creating, soft, lazy waves and adding styling cream to a few chunks of dry hair for shine. And, for the hair surprise of the century, to create body underneath, Peter braided a layer of hair and striped it laterally before dousing it in hairspray and pinning it into place. He calls this the Summer undercut.

Peter also happened to tell me a lovely story about Paul Smith when I asked him about the paper flower he was wearing on his shirt. The flower was symbolic of the 2004 tsunami that Paul holds dear to his heart. Apparently, Paul has raised over a £500,000 for the cause but has never publicised this information. As if we don't love Paul Smith enough already, I am happier than ever to support him.

View 5 Photos ›

Photos by Jamie Roy, FabSugarUK

Jean Pierre Braganza Spring 2012

Jamie Roy — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 19:22:49 BST

Imagine yourself in Cornwall in the 1920s at a Gatsby party. Take a peek around at the architecture and that's what you see on the printed geographic clothing at the Jean Pierre Braganza show. The palette consisted of buttery ivories, pale greys, and cold pinks inspired by a recent discovery of how artist Ben Nicholson created balance from imbalance. However, don't ask the designer himself about his work. Jean Pierre lovingly wrapped his arm around my waist backstage before his show and said this:

"I abhor interviews and talking about clothes. I relish the female and don't apply a theme or a storyline anymore to my collections. I make clothes for women to feel beautiful in."

Alex Byrne and a team from Toni & Guy headed up the beauty front. Alex talked about creating a strong cheek to jive with the art-deco vibe. She used Cha Cha Tint for lips and cheeks in a hard line on the cheek with a bit of Coralista blusher on top. Next she applied Mod Squad lipstick, a taupey pink shade to the lips followed by some lust dusters on the eye, a defined brow, and more coats of They're Real Mascara that she ever thought imaginable to the lashes instead of using false lashes. "If you don't explore extremes, you'll never know how far you can really go," Alex said. "It's like when my husband taught me how to make salt and vinegar crisps. He told me to add as much flavour as I thought I could possibly stand and then add that exact amount again."

Thanks for the advice Alex, I couldn't agree more. Be back soon with more from Sass and Bide!

Preen Spring 2012

Jamie Roy — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 18:04:05 BST

Justin Thornton and Preeya Bregazzi, the dynamic duo behind Preen, put on their big show in New York last week, but decided to appease the London set by putting together an early morning presentation to showcase their ladylike 2012 Spring/Summer collection. Inspired by Virginia Wolfe, especially during the Bloomsbury period, the clothing morphed into a more modern style with geometric, pixilated shapes with handmade lace and a pastel colour board.

Justin told me,

''Virginia was kind of dowdy, but you'd see delicate ruffles sticking out and we liked that detail.''

Since the Preen girl is fresh, polished, sassy knows what she likes, the hair and makeup is equally delicious. Inspired by soft ice cream shades, skin is glowy from the MAC Care Blend Oils used on her face, her cheeks are peachy and flushed from rich coral cream blusher, her lips are a rosy, bitten terracotta shade and her lashes are curled for a finishing touch, but are free from mascara.

View 5 Photos ›

Photos by Jamie Roy, FabSugarUK