This weekend, Pat McGrath, P&G Global Creative Design Director, worked on an exciting COVERGIRL collaboration, including some amazing how-to videos, with fashion runway model, Jessica Stam. Pat gave her Twitter followers and COVERGIRL fans a sneak peek of the shoot, tweeting a gorgeous behind-the-scenes shot (see above) from the set. More news and additional details will be shared during the upcoming Spring/Summer 2012 New York Fashion Week!
In conjunction with the BET Awards which took place last night, COVERGIRL Queen Collection partnered with makeup artist, Ashunta Sheriff, and her celebrity client, actress Tika Sumpter, to give a behind-the-scenes look at how to get red carpet ready for a group of media influencers in Los Angeles. Ashunta went through a detailed demonstration on Tika using COVERGIRL and COVERGIRL Queen Collection so guests were able to see the products come to life first-hand. Our media influencers were eagerly Tweeting along with Tika, taking pictures and jotting down Ashunta’s expert tips. After Tika’s look was complete, all media attendees received hairstyling, manicures and COVERGIRL Queen Collection-inspired makeovers, showcasing the Queen Collection Lip Color (“See Red” was definitely the lip color of the day). Throughout the fun-filled beauty experience, media learned about COVERGIRL Queen Collection’s exciting milestones, including celebrating that Queen Latifah has been a COVERGIRL for 10 years!
For many people, from industry insiders to buyers to consumers, Fashion Week has always been about, well, fashion. Designers get their time in the spotlight, revealing their collections for the upcoming season to the media, celebrities and most importantly, buyers, who can make or break a collection based on what they believe can sell. The coverage is everywhere, setting the tone for trends in fashion, and subsequently, what consumers will be yearning to get their hands on.
As Fashion Week closes on New York and begins in London, I’m reflecting on a different business that has a major stake in Fashion Week – the beauty industry. The focus on backstage has become just as significant as what goes down the runway. Each season MMC is there with Pat McGrath for COVERGIRL to introduce influencers to the beauty trends for the upcoming season and the new products used to create them. And COVERGIRL is not alone – Fashion Week has become a big business driver for countless beauty brands, makeup artists and hair stylists, even nail technicians.
An article published this week on CNBC online confirms that “makeup artists have become just as sought-after as the designers themselves,” because they too, establish and influence the trends for their industry. Makeup artists are surely becoming household names (just like the designers) and their backstage beauty creations resonate further with the average consumer, ultimately influencing buying decisions, right? So as a marketer, Fashion Week is a major catalyst that drives the next “must-have” beauty product – after all, cosmetics are an attainable way for consumers to be part of Fashion Week and recreate the looks seen on the runway.
So what do you think? — Is “makeup is an accessory to fashion”? Does the beauty industry depend on Fashion Week to drive business as much as the fashion industry? Think about it & discuss!
This year, Anna Wintour and those behind last year’s successful, Fashion’s Night Out, decided to up the ante and kick-off Fashion Week with some flair.
“The Show” materialized at the historic Lincoln Center, where a maze of intersecting runways surrounded the glowing center fountain, and under the bright neon lights, 150 models showed off this season’s hottest trends…to the masses (for a hefty price). Along with us “regular” citizens, celebrity attendees like Blake Lively and Leighton Meester mingled with designers like Alexander Wang, DVF, Donna Karan and Michael Kors. There were athletes in attendance too, like Serena Williams, Amar’e Stoudemire and even tennis pro, Roger Federer (I thought he had a US open to win?).
Picture this: As Gaga music blares from the DJ booth, the overzealous crowd looks around in all directions, trying to figure out where and how the show will start. Cue the grand entrance, where in true NYC style, a red double decker city bus arrives, adorned with Fashion Night Out posters, and dancing models (decked in Fashion Night Out t-shirts and elegant, elaborate skirts). The models, led by the-most-beautiful-person-I’ve-seen-in-real-life, Gisele Bündchen, danced their way off the bus (and actually looked they were having fun!) and strutted onto the platform to the ooo’s and aaah’s of all.
Clusters of 15 models, followed in succession, sported the seven trendiest, and most wearable, styles of the season: Tartan Twist, Pure At Heart, Fifties Flair, Jazz-Age Cool, Weekend Wrap-Up, Go Global and Rock Chic. All 157 looks were impeccable from head-to-toe. The makeup was flawless, the hairstyles were outlandish and the clothes were…more than clothes…they were inspiring. There was also a surprise performance from Pharrell, who ended the show with an important message to the crowd, “Let’s go shopping!”
For someone who can’t tell the difference between an Alice + Olive and a Rag & Bone, this was an experience – and probably one of the coolest experiences I’ve had in NY. The whole event felt like a 3D art exhibit – not just the clothes and the models, but the people in attendance, too. Everyone certainly had their own sense of style and no one was afraid to show it off…after all, it was “The Show”, and it was definitely very NYC.
This past weekend, a few MMCers decided to get out of the office and head across the bridge (literally) for some inspiration and food-for-thought! We’re always brainstorming about NEW & fresh ideas to bring to our clients and wanted to head out and explore this great city to help inspire our thinking. What better way to that than a NYC walking tour? This wasn’t any ordinary NYC walking tour, this was even better: a food walking tour! Bruce, our guide, led us across the Brooklyn bridge, offering up a few interesting facts along the way to help fuel our thinking.
Our first food experience was at NY pizza institution, Grimaldi’s Pizzeria, which has been serving hungry New Yorkers for over a decade. Directly over the bridge, customers have been known to wait hours for this coal-oven pie. Thanks to our handy tour guide, we didn’t have to wait on the line, but we did have to wait 45 minutes for the pie to be made before we could devour it. With our mouths watering, we took our classic NY pizza to the newly built park under the bridge and ate with gorgeous views of the skyline and bridge.
As with any meal, our food walking tour would not have been complete without dessert. After finishing up our pizza, we walked a few steps to The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, owned by the famed River Café and housed in a twenties fireboat house right on the water. There was a small selection of flavors – just the essentials, including vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, butter pecan and coffee. Each was ice cream perfection – creamy and refreshing!
All together, food, sights and friends, it was a perfect way to see a part of NYC we hadn’t seen before – through food!
~A very special shout out to Rachel L. and Marissa F. who helped contribute to this post
I love the month of December. And it’s not just because of all the holiday cheer (and parties), and the coveted MMC Gift Week. Or the festive decorations wrapped throughout the city. Or even the 8 special nights of Chanukah and the time spent with family. I look forward to this time of year for all its traditions.
Everyone has their own unique traditions, and while my family has a few here and there, there’s one that’s always constant. Picture this: It’s a cold, snowy afternoon on December 25th and most stores, restaurants and shopping malls are closed. I’m home in Westchester sitting at the breakfast table with my siblings and parents. “What is there to do today?” my sister asks. The answer is crystal clear – GO TO THE MOVIES.
Every Christmas Day, my family and I go to the movies, followed by Chinese food for dinner (a typical Jewish Christmas). While other families may have similar traditions, my family makes ours one of a kind. We’re all very passionate, sometimes stubborn people not a great combination when it comes to making democratic decisions. Every year it’s the same routine
We spend hours arguing and disagreeing over what movie to see. We laugh at my mom who makes us leave for the theatre 3 hours before the movie begins. And we almost always wind up seeing a bad movie and then complain about what we could have seen instead. And I wouldn’t pass that up for anything.
This year, I’m most excited to see Avatar (10 years in the making!), Nine (musical!), and Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey, Jr!). I wouldn’t consider myself a movie buff or even a movie fanatic, but during these cold winter months, especially on Christmas Day, it’s all about honoring our tradition and experiencing the magic of the movies with my family.
As we’ve seen from my fellow MMCers, most New Yorkers travel to The Hamptons, Fire Island, The Jersey Shore, or similar beach-y destinations to escape the infamous NYC summer heat. But my family decided to spend a few blissful summer days in the cooler mountainous region of The Poconos for an a-typical summer vacation.
After a five hour drive (normally only two and half hours), we arrived in complete darkness, to our rented family cabin. The little house wasn’t actually so little with six bedrooms, a finished basement, wrap around deck and family room. The house smelled like a musty summer day with an alluring trace of scented vanilla candles. It was deep set into the woods, surrounded by forest and wildlife (including a few bears which roamed our front lawn). Everything in the house was made of dark oak wood – the beds, the cabinets, the chairs and even the house itself – matching flawlessly, and perfectly appropriate for its surrounding country feel.
Excluding our quick, but necessary trip to the Shopping Outlets, we immersed ourselves in country living. We bbq’d on the deck by night, sat by the lake with our bagged lunches and walked around the historic town of Jim Thorpe by day. We also went White Water Rafting along the Lehigh River, where, much to my dismay, we were handed a life vest and a paddle and told to go explore the waves of the river on our own. A fun, and interesting, way to learn how to travel through the rapids!
My favorite part of my a-typical summer vacation was the scenery. Leaps of mountains and pastures of green for miles upon miles. And while there wasn’t much “beach”, there were beautiful lakes and rivers that ran throughout the towns of middle Pennsylvania, almost hidden between and amongst the forests.
So what’s the moral of my story? Well, sometimes “a-typical” can actually be quite refreshing. After a not-so-hot-until-recently summer in the city, escaping for a few days to experience the comfort of home surrounded by nature was almost
energizing. So as the summer dwindles down, maybe it’s not such a bad idea to get the engines roaring with something, anything, a bit out of the ordinary.
