Backstage at Tadashi Shoji’s Fall 2009 Collection (my last Fashion Week backstage!), I saw beautiful makeup artistry by MAC Cosmetics’ artist Luc Bouchard, who created a palette of caramels and browns for the eye. Tadashi Shoji came to Luc and said , “A smoky train station…that’s what I want for the makeup.”
“So I wanted something soft and smoky for the face since the clothes are all angular,” Luc says.

He used MAC’s Teddy pencil around the eyes, and Eye Espresso in Omega (a soft brown) and Carbon. Luc also wanted to recreate the same effect as when light falls on top of the head, when skin is reflective of the light.

As with so many Fall 2009 faces we’ve seen, there was no trace of blush. Lips were peachy in color using the gloss Shy Girl (he applied lip conditioner first). The skin was dusted with Mineralize Skinfinish Foundation.

(Shy Girl is the orange peachy color)

Eyeliner has no where to hide during the Fall! Luc used lots of liner to finish the “smoky train station” effect. “The colors of the clothes are very strong, like fuschia and orange. I didn’t want the makeup to fight with the clothes,” he says.

Hair master Rodney Cutler of his eponymous salon said the Tadashi look was “clean, beautiful and evening. We wanted to keep it simple, young and fresh.” To do this, he used side partings for the hair, back- combed it to add texture and wisps, then coiled it into a little bun. Yes, it’s a little messy bun at the back and a very clean, glam silhouette in the front.

To achieve this messy little bun, Cutler used the Cutler Straightening Cream and Redken Workforce 09. His latest power tool is an Ionic Hair Dryer that’s lightweight and does the job at the speed of a Ferrari.

And as for the clothes and the full look, Tadashi Shoji created clean, inspired cocktail attire worthy of any socialite. Equally versatile in both black and white and color, the designer shows us that mastery of quiet, solid elegance will never really go out of style.