Candy Pastels and Elfin Crops: The Benefits of ‘Benefit’

An observation in House of Fraser’s Beauty Department, Epsom…

Beauty consultants are usually irritatingly flawless creatures of perfection, so Benefit’s pocket-sized pixie-chick was a refreshing surprise when she popped up, flustered, from behind the counter, her tiny hands covered in glitter, gloss and chipped coral polish. Conscious of her grubby hands and messy elfin crop she shook both simultaneously and giggled nervously, flashing me a charmingly apologetic smile. Glossy lollipop pink lips… check. Flawlessly doll-like apricot complexion… check. Bambi eyes and thick, fluttering lashes… check. Demeaning ‘I’ve just looked you up and down and concluded that I’m better than you’ beauty consultant superiority attitude? No sign of it. Chatting away as she dusted, powdered and painted with her sweet-box palette of colours, she exuded gamine charm and an infectiously girly passion for cosmetics. She certainly perfected the art of convincing me I needed every single product, and revived my faith in the brand as the pioneer of all things pretty, girly and sinfully unnecessary…

The Essentials

Big Beautiful Eyes: A Contour Kit (rrp £21.50)

Let’s face it, all-in-one ‘wonder-products’ rarely live up to expectations. How often we are sucked into the moneysaving appeal of multiple products which are convenient, time-saving and handbag friendly, only to find that each product is disappointing in size and effectiveness. Big Beautiful Eyes is a rare exception to this rule, succeeding because its products are carefully chosen, each the perfect companion to the next, each an essential…and it looks pretty too.

The slimline case is adorned with cute ‘how-to’ illustrations and a good-sized mirror and even closes with a magnetic fastening to ensure it will not leak in your purse or makeup bag. The kit contains a concealer perfect for under-eye circles but rich enough to cover blemishes, in a universal medium beige tone (the equivalent to Benefit’s shade 02) with its own concealer brush.

Next is a one-shade-suits all shimmering rose beige eyeshadow which can also double as a highlighter for cheeks and décolleté. This is the sort of shade which every girl should have in her makeup bag but doesn’t because it is surprisingly hard to find in a long-lasting formula. The kit also contains a darker brown shade suitable for contouring, and a matte medium brown powder which can be used as a shadow, liner or brow shader. There are two eyeshadow brushes included, a soft one for coverage and a firmer one for lining and defining brows. The look achieved by following the how-to guide included is Bambi-like and natural enough for everyday wear, although the look can be glamourized for evening by adding heavier liner and dramatic mascara. What more can a girl ask for?

Highbeam: Luminescent Complexion Enhancer (rrp £17.50)

You may have heard of Benetint, Benefit’s cult ruby red lip and cheek stain which is considered a beauty essential by thousands of English Rose complexioned girls. The trouble with the shade is that it is suitable only for paler skintones. Highbeam is the brand’s solution for highlighting tanned or olive skintones, although it can also add an ethereal glow to paler and cooler skintones. The shade is a pearlescent silvery-pink which catches the light without looking tacky or greasy. The nail-polish shaped bottle makes the product easy to apply and long-lasting, as well as adding an irresistible vintage chic to your dressing table.

The New Addition

Love Your…Lipgloss (rrp £14)

These lipglosses are not complete newbies to the range, but have been given a style overhaul for 2010. Gone are the bulky tubes, too-thick formula and sparkle overload… packaging is now minimalistic and streamlined, shades are bright and LA glossy without being sticky or annoyingly glittery, and the formula glides on smoothly, moisturising lips to ensure the product lasts and lasts. In the makeup market, lipgloss is perpetually popular and competition between brands to create the ‘It’ product is consistently fierce. Benefit hits the mark due to its relative affordability despite still being widely considered a luxury brand, and the mass appeal of its Hollywood-inspired packaging. The top 'I want what she's got' shade? A shimmering mauvey pink cutely named 'kiss you'.

With this year still in full 'austerity chic’ swing, the benefit of Benefit is its 'I want it…and I can afford it!' factor: pretty pastels, elfin charm and products that actually work without the guilt-factor and hefty price tag. Perfect!

Victoria's Secret

Victoria Beckham, for me, has long been ‘that girl’ who appears to have everything and carries it all with an admirable girl-next-door, quintessentially British charm. Yes, she is naturally blessed with a doll-like prettiness, a dancer’s grace and an eye for style and co-ordination. But her assets are by no means extraordinary. She is neither a flawless natural beauty, a prima-ballerina nor immune to falling prey to the odd fashion faux-pas. Victoria’s secret is her talent for maximising her assets to enviable heights. Her touch, evidently, is like gold dust. Her fame, her personal appearance, her signature style and her designs have all been groomed with the flawless immaculacy and clean-line elegance which define the phenomena of brand Beckham. Victoria is undoubtedly an accomplished businesswoman, yet has had much to prove as a designer.

There is a refreshing honesty and realness to her work as a fashion designer. She wears her own designs with a pride and regularity exuding self-belief and heartfelt passion rather than empty self-promotion. Her aim has always been to create garments which accentuate and celebrate the female form, and her perfectly proportioned silhouette is walking proof of her ability in the field. What she lacks in formal design training she more than makes up for in her years in the spotlight with her femininity under constant scrutiny and her figure the topic of continued debate. If there’s one thing Victoria knows, it is the power of dress – and specifically, the dress itself. When was the last time you saw Victoria pictured wearing anything apart from a dress? And no, her own brand of jeans don’t count…

Victoria has gradually become, during the course of the last decade, the ultimate (and surprising) pioneer of the dress. Her Autumn/Winter 2010 collection, which debuted on Valentines Day in New York, consisted entirely of a capsule wardrobe of gotta-have-it dresses with styles ranging from casual LA cool to showstopping red-carpet glamour, not forgetting everything in between. And in an instant, Victoria’s secret is uncovered. When dresses can make you look this amazing, who needs anything else in their wardrobe? This is her most triumphant fashion moment to date – defiantly and strikingly mature, an evolution rather than a continuation of her sassy-but-playsafe Spring/Summer 2010 line.

Since each piece was designed with wearability and signature style in mind, it is unsurprising that the palette was distinctively, well, noir. Black is an unavoidable Beckham-ism and in fairness the collection would have seemed incomplete if it was absent. The black pieces were also amongst the most chic and versatile in the collection, capable of inspiring those rare and heart-fluttering “I could actually wear that…and look good” moments. Highlights included the ¾ length leg-of-mutton sleeved jersey mini (pictured below) which would have looked equally chic paired with flip-flops or platform stilettos, harnessing that elusive wearability factor.

The ultimate black beauty came in the form of the wool-twill trench dress, which paid homage to 1930s slinky silhouette. Seductive hints of the décolleté were revealed beneath the low V neck with tousled collar, and there were subtle flashes of thigh peeping through the wrap skirt as the model schmoozed coolly down the runway, yet the overall effect remained lady-like and tantalizingly coy. A distinct lack of accessories was substituted for Victoria’s signature sunglasses worn simply with elegant pulled back hair, another wearable look which somehow succeeded in appearing fresh and classic simultaneously.

There remained traces of Victoria’s Spring/Summer palette, but her chosen hues returned as though all grown up – cerise to blood red, dove grey to graphite and buttercup yellow to a delicious caramel tan colour (one to watch for Winter 2010). The red fold-neck jersey dress oozed sophistication in its simple figure-hugging, seamless fluidity, a matured version of last season’s body-con that not so much hugged but kissed the figure, creating a much more relaxed structure.

By far the most accomplished number was the Tan drape maxi dress, apparently inspired by the late contemporary dancer and choreographer Martha Graham. Fluidity, movement and balance are certainly evident in the exquisite draping of the butter-gold combined with the gentle structure formed by the asymmetric band, which runs diagonally across the torso from the collar bone defining the waist and décolleté with an Audrey Hepburn-esque minimalism and effortlessness. It is here that the collection truly transforms from simply mastering the art of the silhouette – no mean feat in itself - to creating an original, yet distinctive look different to anything else seen at New York this season.

It is little wonder that this dress should be rumoured as Victoria’s choice for the forthcoming Oscar’s ceremony…what better outfit to choose for the girl with the golden touch?

Alexander Mcqueen: Examples of Eternal Elegance

This, no doubt, will be just one in a countless surge of commemorative articles celebrating the work of Alexander McQueen as word of his death continues to stagger the fashion world. To lose this decade’s darling of design at the height of his success is an unsettling reminder of life’s capriciousness, yet the significance of his recent achievements remains inspirationally steadfast. The following three pieces represent all that is covetable about McQueen design and will remain memorable both in their status as modern classics and as celebrity endorsed fashion ‘moments’.

Spring 2009: The Ethereal Fairy Dress

As though plucked from Titania’s bower, exotic beauty Chanel Iman glided effortlessly down the runway connected as one with the fabric softly brushing her body – and a fashion moment was born. Like a ‘breathe’ at a dancer’s ballet barre, the tasselled folds of the asymmetric hemline rippled like an echo to her movements. In a moment, McQueen had established his expertise of the female silhouette and his unique ability to make fabric dance upon it. Delicate leaves in a sugared-almond palette of mint green, pistachio, violet and buttercream lay sprinkled across the exposed chest creating a cobwebbed lace effect as delicate as sugar glaze.

The string of leaves draped down the centre of the torso, adding a gentle structure which streamlined the silhouette. The leaf designs were etched upon a baby pink chiffon so delicate that it appeared to gleam like mother-of-pearl under the soft apricot lighting.

This was a creation so exquisite that it could have be used as confirmation that fashion must be synonymous with art. Or, could it be as aptly used, conversely, to support the ‘fashion is fashion and nothing more’ approach? Despite the undeniable sex appeal of the dress as worn by the toned and picture-perfect Cheryl Cole on her 25th birthday, it loses some of its natural magic, does it not? But perhaps I’m just jealous…

Cheryl Cole in Alexander McQueen at her 25th Birthday Party

Spring 2009: Structured in Sequins

In an entirely different manipulation of the female form, McQueen replaced fairytale fluidity with this empowering ultra-structure. With an effortless ‘I can do better than that’ nod to the Spring 09 micro-mini trend, the dress took the slimming benefits of the mini to a new level, cinching the waist to resemble that of a tiny Wonderwoman doll and lengthening legs to flamingo-like proportions beneath the supersized bell skirt.

Yet far from resembling the gaudy dress of a female superhero the ensemble - balanced with a delicate under-cami ofmuted beige - retained its femininity within the low-cut oval scoop neck and softly capped sleeves. Set against a fresh bare face and butter-blonde hair gathered into a ponytail, the dress was youthful, girly and playful: contributing factors no doubt for Gwyneth Paltrow when she chose to go for gold in the ensemble for the 2009 Oscars.

Spring 2010: The Season of the Supershoe

This year’s most controversial fashion moment so far comes in the un-ignorable form of the McQueen 10 inch Supershoe, a mythic mutation of the traditional female leg-line into a faun-like hoofed silhouette. Never before in fashion have hooves been considered desirable and only Mcqueen, perhaps, could have managed to make such a concoction appear breathtaking, elegant and strangely alluring. The method to his madness is the undeniable fact that oversized structures – recently seen in sunglasses, handbags, extreme shoulders - can make women appear slimmer by fooling ones perception of proportion. The likelihood that these shoes will penetrate onto the highstreet has been catapulted by the success of Lady Gaga’s endorsement in her video for ‘Bad Romance.’ The metallic reptilian ‘Gaga’ shoes are amongst the most captivating of McQueen’s creations: glossy gems of emerald green and petrol blue are tightly clustered, covering the entire curve of the shoe causing the light to flirt with the appearance of the colours, causing moments of blackness alternated with flickers of jewel-tones.

Far from being just ‘a pair of shoes’, these creations are testament to McQueen’s trademark insistence on taking risks and pushing the boundaries of contemporary fashion. Conceptually and artistically, McQueen will remain head, shoulders, and that extra 10 inches above his rivals for the foreseeable fashion future.

The Rise of Rodarte

After stunning audiences New York’s RTW shows with their fantastical juxtapositions of tainted glam-goth and ethereal elegance, Rodarte have secured first place in the fracas for this season’s label to lust over.

It can be argued that signature style, the ability to create that instantly recognizable keynote reoccurring subtly but with a charming potency collection after collection, is the secret to a designer’s lasting success, a la Marc Jacobs’s layering, Pucci’s vivid colours or Chloe’s safari neutrals. Rodarte, relatively fresh on the scene (founded in 2005 by young sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy) instantly seized upon the Amazonian trend, adopting it in their uniquely sophisticated manner awash with Literary and Historical nods inspired by their respective degree disciplines.

The archetypal fierceness of Amazonian style was white-washed and assigned a fresh femininity throughout their exquisitely delicate Spring 2009 collection, remaining in peek-a-boo flashes such as the diamond cut-out leggings – now acclaimed as a cult-classic – and striking warrior platform sandals created in collaboration with Nicholas Kirkwood. Despite making headlines when they caused model Abbey Lee to fall on the catwalk, the notorious death-trap heels have returned time after time, undeterred, in later collections.

“Sometimes you have to sacrifice your performance for high heels…” – Gwen Stefani.

Balancing the toughness on the lower-sections were flirtatiously feminine pleats, netting and ruching in muted nudes which achieved an intriguing balance between wearability and luxe craftsmanship. The softness of each ensemble was pinched, cinched and bound with corsetry resembling medical bandaging and chillingly clinical white patent belts. Structured metallic tailoring combined with nude leather bomber jackets punked-up the collection, modelled by 2009’s catwalk darling Agnes Deyn, whose acid blonde crop and androgynous silhouette created the perfect match for the collection. Flashes of colour were added mainly through bold dashes of apricot, violet and terracotta makeup adding a delicious summery freshness and a subtle hint towards the more vibrant palette of the 2010 collection.

The combination of English rose elegance with sultry glam-goth has led Rodarte to encompass both the classic and the edgy extremes of the celebrity spectrum. Followers include Keira Knightly and Natalie Portman as well as Rihanna, Dita Von Teese, Tilda Swinton and Cate Blanchett.

Knightely in an asymetric Grecian Rodarte drape dress at the premiere of Atonement

Rihanna recently punked-up a pair of the trademark diamond leggings with a leather cropped jacket and all-black patent accessories, and it was towards this darker, gothic direction that the Rodarte pendulum swung at the NY RTW Spring 2010 shows. The distinguishable silhouettes from 2009 provided the trademark Amazonian basenote, but were blackened, singed and charred removing any last traces of pastel prettiness from the previous collection. Reminiscent of a beautifully eerie Tim Burton nightmare, nymph-like models appeared draped in feathered, fringed and shredded Gothic layers, revealing slender arms covered with Amazonian inspired body art. As each creation emerged amidst a theatrically Sleepy Hollow-esque puff of luminous dry ice the final line-up undoubtedly formed one of the most pulled-together, polished and breathtaking shows this season.

Highlights included the exquisite fringed wrap-dress, (below) unique in its trend-setting ‘New Monochrome’ colour combination of black against iced flesh-tones, and the cut-out cropped metallic bomber jacket interwoven with flashes of mauve, petrol blue and apricot.

The Rise of Rodarte, it seems, looks set to continue for as long as women seek empowerment and attitude from their wardrobes. Trademark pieces such as the diamond cut-out leggings are available now from Harvey Nichols, prices starting at £565.