Diane Kendal

Backstage at Proenza Schouler, designers Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough chatted with Frederic Fekkai, whose hair care line was being used on the models. Mr. Fekkai wasn't doing hair, but lead stylist Paul Hanlon led a team in creating an undone, tousled updo. "It's a twisted Hitchcock thing," Hanlon explained. "It's cool and sexy, but the designers wanted a maturity to the look." He applied Fekkai Coiff Oceanique Tousled Wave spray throughout hair before finger-combing it dry with a diffuser. After pulling hair into a French twist, he left a few pieces out for what he calls "a feeling that it's fallen." In one unusual but effective move, he wrapped hair with mesh scarves, then set the texture with Fekkai Coiff Sheer Hold hair spray before removing the scarf.

Makeup had a tomboyish quality. "They're much more ladylike than they usually are, but they still wanted a tough edge," makeup artist Diane Kendal said of the designers' vision. Flawless skin and contoured cheekbones (courtesy of MAC Iridescent Powder in Silver Dusk) provided a contrast to the strong eye. Kendal created tomboyish eyebrows by brushing on shadow a shade darker than each model's natural color. The finishing touch: a little bit of foundation dabbed on the lips.

If there's one thing New York Fashion Week has taught us, it's that the '90s are back in a big way. At Proenza Schouler, Diane Kendal created a makeup look inspired by the early part of the decade. Dark matte lips and nearly bare skin were a throwback to the days of Singles.

To create this look, Kendal focused on moisturizing the skin instead of fussing with foundation. A dark brown cream base from MAC provided the eye makeup and contour underneath the cheeks. She filled in the eyebrows for depth, leaving the focus on the lip. She used Charred Red and Smoked Purple lipsticks, applying them intensely in the center. "It's not a hard line," she said. "It's quite soft." A dab of black eye shadow in the center created more intensity.

The hair was just as simple. Lead stylist Didier Malige aimed for a relaxed, no-fuss look. "It's about building a texture," he explained. "It has to look kind of static and untouched." To get the look, he worked Fekkai Coiff Bouffant through hair, squeezed it with fingers, and used Fekkai Coiff Bouffant spray gel to provide soft hold and movement. "It's the same feeling as last season," he said. Cue the Mudhoney.

When you're one of the hot names in fashion, you can lure people out to the boondocks of Manhattan — and if anybody grumbled, I didn't hear it. Before Alexander Wang's show, the backstage was filled with the big names in modeling (Natalia! Agyness! Freja! Anja!) and a faint whiff of hair spray in the air.
To find out what went into the creation of the Alexander Wang look and see more photos, keep reading.