Nars Exhbit A Runway to Realway

François Nars | Marc Jacobs

After a 10 year hiatus, François Nars marked his return to the fashion runway in a larger than life way by leading the makeup direction for Marc Jacobs’ Autumn/Winter 2009 show. It included working with 65 models, and creating 65 different makeup looks. Nars’ unexpected return to fashion week can be attributed solely to Marc Jacobs. “We’ve known each other since the beginning so it was really fun to work with Marc again. I really love what he does,” said Nars.

Inspiration: The Marc Jacobs Fall 2009 collection paid homage to the New York night club scene of the 1970s and ‘80s. Drawing inspiration from these decades and the works of Sprouse, St. Laurent, and Halston, François Nars took into consideration each model’s individual beauty before creating a separate edgy look, reminiscent of the past but still very modern. “We are doing quite an eclectic look,” he said. The inspiration for diversity came from Nars’ book XRAY. “[Marc] wanted to keep that feeling,” said Nars, “the variety of looks, the same way we do the campaigns for NARS.” Overall, it was important that each girl look beautiful, even with strong theatrical looks. Much like the fashion, Nars emphasized having fun with makeup for the coming year, despite the times we live in- “It’s a good antidote.”

Look: Focusing on an edgy, night clubbing look, strong eyes and bold color were a major theme. Black shadow laid the foundation for creating the dramatic eye, to which the artists added cobalt blues, deep greens, bright purples, reds, fuchsias, and glitter. “There is a wide variety of color,” said Nars, “it’s whatever looks good on the girl.” For many of the models, porcelain skin was a key component, allowing the black eyes and bright colors to pop. “You want to play with makeup,” says Nars, “makeup is a great accessory - that is the message.”

Now that you have the business, here are the basics. While clearly this look is runway appropriate only, there are way you can incorporate this in to your everyday look. Makeup artist François Nars used Nars Exhibit A blush on Sessilee Lopez and your probably wondering how the heck could I wear this blush out side of a Dynasty marathon viewing the trick is to just dab a small amount and blend blend blend. And when you think you have blended enough, blend some more. This color looks amazing on brown skin tones, Ive tried for myself, and loved the results. Though I have over 10 blushes and have sworn off new makeup for a while, a great friend of mine Naomi swear by it and it looks FAB!