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Fashion Show
Hi Guys I am doing Hair & Makeup for a Charity Fashion Show this week! As a start up artist I am really looking forward to getting this achievement under my belt, and its not entirely at my cost as I am getting travel expenses covered and will be getting some pro photos out of it too... not to mention the free advertising! I was just wondering if there are any last minute tips or bits of advise anyone would offer me? I feel confident in my abilities but I'm also excited and nervous as it will be my first Show. I am actually the only artist on set! I have 4 females and a male (Although not hair on the guys) I feel fairly confident that I have everything in order but as I said this is my first show I have only done bridal/Party make up and hair so far and this is a different ball game that will showcase my capabilities! I guess this post is a bit vague so far so if there if I need to elaborate please let me know  Thanks in advance Mar 02 15 07:59 am Link how much time are they giving you do prep each model? Mar 02 15 11:54 am Link Eclectic Visions wrote: Hi. I will have around 4.5 hours to get everyone ready ! Mar 02 15 12:11 pm Link If you can, have a set of makeup brushes for each model to save time cleaning in between. Set up your station with items in easy reach, in order of how you will use them. Take out only what you will use. I like to use an empty cup for used brushes so they are not cluttering my station, if you have separate brushes for each model, have a separate cup for each one in case you have to do any touchups. Use disposable artist palette paper for dispensing/mixing products. Have a face chart with your makeup design in front of you for easy reference. If you are curling hair, I like to use hot rollers or curl with wand and clip curls, then do makeup while curls are cooling. I do everything except lips (can do lipliner ahead of time), then do everyone's lips in assembly line before they go out. With a four hour prep time, your first models will probably be eating and drinking, so you would have to redo the lips anyway! Have fun! Just fyi, photos from fashion shows are fun to have, but usually are not portfolio worthy unless they are professionally shot before they go down the runway. Mar 02 15 03:27 pm Link Denise wrote: Thank you very much for this Denise! This is great advise that I would not think of in my haste! The photos will be a mixture of pre runway and runway so hopefuly i will get one or two nice portfolio shots. Failing that I am planning on taking my Canon EOS with me so I can try and get some pictures myself :-D Mar 02 15 11:49 pm Link Denise wrote: Superb tenured advice... Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom here Denise... totally agree with everything you've mentioned... Denise wrote: This may or may not be the case... so much depends on the venue's illumination, and the location of the photographer's pit... Tenured togs are wise enough to capture the talent as they make their signature statement at the end of the runway/catwalk since their arms are not swinging as rapidly... Mar 04 15 06:38 am Link Denise wrote: Agree with this a million percent. To make cheap wax paper palettes for jobs like this or theater or large groups of background, buy wax paper sheets in bulk at Costco and staple them into "pads" of paper that can easily be torn off. Clip each "palette" to a small clipboard you can easily hold in one hand while working. You can make up palettes ahead of time on these as well by dispensing product you will be using on every model (lip color, cream eye/face product) on the palette ahead of time. Then it's already set for you when you need to rush unexpectedly. Getting photos of models with bare faces ahead of time can help with planning too. If each model's hair things (bands, bobbies their own hair color) are already separated out into tins (like Altoid containers) with their name on it will save time. Altoid tins are also great for slipping wax paper cut to size inside. You can put their lip and touch up makeup on the wax paper and it's protected with the lid closed for touch ups. I stick the wax paper to the inside of the tin pre-show with a glue dot (called Zots, found in scrapbooking sections of Jo-Ann's, Michael's, Hobby Lobby, etc.). Yes, I eat lots of Altoids. The plastic cases Frend's brand eyelashes come in are great for this too, but they can crack and the Altoids ones are sturdier. Mar 04 15 01:30 pm Link Great advice from Dani about making your own disposable palettes and the Altoids tins. Another option is an empty CD case, you can dispense a bit of concealer, foundation & lipstick/gloss in the case (clean with alcohol first), and label with model's name. I have used both CD cases and Altoids tins in set bags for actors and models. Thomas' advice about having lots of business cards and connecting with photographers was bang-on! With regard to photos, Thomas showed a couple of examples of some good photos that one might possibly receive, but I stick by my comment that such photos are nice to have, but they are not what you would usually put in your portfolio. With this being a charity fashion show, there likely won't be a phalanx of experienced show photographers in the pit as you would find at a tent show at FW. The only time I received photos from a fashion show that were good enough for my book, I arranged with a fashion photographer friend to come and shoot each model individually before the show. This was cleared with the show director and scheduled in specifically to the prep time so everyone on the creative team could get good photos. Good idea to bring your own camera, if you have time to take quick pics of your work, great! If you find you are too busy, there might be an assistant backstage who you could ask to take a few shots for you with your camera. All the best, I am sure you will enjoy yourself! Mar 08 15 11:51 pm Link Sounds cool. Have fun! Do you get to design the looks yourself, or are the designers providing the concepts? Mar 09 15 01:27 am Link CaraH wrote: Cara that's a huge no no... Nealy all major fashion shows are highly orchestrated... the theme, narrative and visual statements are worked out months in advance... all the fashion shows I've worked have afforded the least creativity of all assignments... the makeup artist are simply another team member of the show and report directly to the show's director... btw, this makes for some serious challenges when the "look" chosen for the show doesn't not work well for the talent in your chair... the artist simply has to "make it work" otherwise they will not be invited back... CaraH wrote: No, this is totally up to the show's director, albeit the designers are likely fully aware of the the theme, narrative and visual statements that have been formulated months in advance... CaraH wrote: Cara fun is typically not a variable in the equation... Notice the first response to this thread is how much time are they giving you do prep each model? which is what someone with tenure would ask... shows are frantic... loosely control chaos... sanitation procedures go out the window... I've actually been ordered to take no more than 15 minutes per model (with no time to clean my station between models).... I no longer work shows, they rarely if ever pay... the only priceless benefit is networking with all the industry talent that come together to make the show work... Mar 09 15 08:06 am Link Thanks ArtistryImage for the response, I've never experienced a fashion show from the perspective of a MUA before- I know it gets hectic, though I'd always assumed that there was a certain level of enjoyment for all parties involved- I am sorry to hear that this is not often the case. I thought Sherry might have the chance to have creative input since it sounded like a smaller event. If so, I could see that an event like this may be more beneficial than one where the looks are pre-designed. In any case, good luck Sherry! P.S. I've always brought my own mascara to shows- and this is really good advice to pass on to models! Mar 09 15 03:17 pm Link Hi everyone! Thank you so much for your replies and advice on this topic! Very Valuable information and I endevour to keep note of all this for next years fashion show! one of the show organisers that asked me to do the MUA for the show is very connected in the industry and had some great professional parties involved, and luckily for me I have been asked to return next year So for those interested here is my rendition of how my first ever fashion show went!.... It definitely was an experience! I was totally shattered by the time i managed to get home to my bed! So the hair stylist had cancelled on the show two days prior to the event so I had been asked to do the hair too as they could not get anyone else at such short notice... luckily I am trained to do hair (I am not a professional stylist but I am confident with the basic looks and techniques to making something look harder than it was) To give you a feel of the event the show itself was an annual charity event for a local hospital organised by a student union within a university. It was a small scale event but as I said there were some big names involved. I arrived at 3.30pm and had until 8.05pm to do hair and makeup on 4 females and a bit of makeup on 3 males. Important to note that these were not models they were volunteer students! I had been given little information prior to my arrival, I had requested that the models come with clean faces and pre moisturised. My first mistake was that I had agreed to do the hair but neglected to ask that the models do not freshly wash their hair! I did however ask if there were any styling preferences to which the answer was no. So the biggest problem on arrival was that the designer had not arrived and no one had seen the outfits despite there being 3 costume changes and it being the day of the show and no dress rehearsal or even a try on had occurred! The organisers and models were all stressed for obvious reasons. So with 3 costume changes and no guidance on colours or concepts because the designer had not communicated anything across and I did not know her... I decided to go with fairly neutral but left blush and lips until the last minute before they went out. Luckily for me I had pre planned to do an updo on all the girls and was able to prep hair pieces the day before (praying that they were all on asian skin with natural hair colour - dark brown and black - as I had no photos of them) I praise myself on this prep as it meant that even though the girls all arrived with freshly washed hair (ARGH!) i used a crap load of hair spray/texturiser and had hair done in 15 minutes on each girl (I had pre plaited 4 long hair pieces and did a high big bun on each of them with a little work on framing the face according to what I thought suited each girl) The designer who was late had managed to tell one of the directors that the models need their hair up so I had pre empted that well! The first girl was lovely and did what you would expect a model to do... arrived fresh faced and moisturised and allowed me to style her hair and do her makeup without being opinionated! Perfect... then the 2nd and 3rd models both had opinions on what hair styles suited them or that I should contour their face a certain way as (quote here) "I have a fat chin". and model 3 still had a full face of makeup on when she arrived!... I stayed professional and calm and stuck to my plans and they looked in line with model number 1 and brilliant after I had finished... Model number 4 then sat down and started to panic as she had never had any kind of makeup on or lashes or anything! So i had to keep her calm through the whole process and keep reassuring her that she would be fine!!!! They looked brilliant in the end and I was extremely happy with my work and that I had managed to get hair & makeup done on each of them in an hour each!! a couple of minor touches to the male models and they were good to go! The designer had eventually turned up an hour before the show was due to begin... as I had predicted the show did not start on time because of this it was half an hour late! As I put blush and lips on the girls as they lined up ready i turned around to see that model number 3 had decided to pull bits of her hair out around the front of her face because "it suits me better" and she refused to have me repair it! Needless to say I made a massive note on this for next year to ensure that I don't have models like that again as it is not the models decision on how the hair and makeup is to be! Anywho ... I am rambling on quite a bit now but all in all despite my hurdles during the event I managed to pull off a good job and the designer and directors were happy with the results! The director that had called me in actually got the photographer to take head shots for me and there were photos during the backstage process so I am looking forward to getting those and hopefully the headshots are portfolio worthy! I will stop typing this essay now! Mar 10 15 03:13 am Link |
