Neil Moodie at New York Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2011

Date: 24/09/2010

Fashion Week season is upon us once again and New York is first to kick things off with their Spring/Summer 2011 collections. Neil is doing nine shows in seven days... Coming up: Ruffian, BCBG, Band of Outsiders, Peter Jensen, Marlon Gobel, Michael Bastian, Yigal Azrouel, Herve Leger and Nathan Jenden...

Ruffian

The inspiration for the Ruffian Spring/Summer 2011 collection was Susan Travers, the only woman to serve in the French Foreign Legion. This was translated through into the military-inspired clothes (khaki, gold buttons, crisp whites paired with pops of royal blue), golden-toned makeup as if the girls had just been through the desert and as for the hair? Neil gave the girls all a low side parting, then gelled down the hair using Bumble and bumble Straight before adding some Bumble and bumble Gel to make a chignon.

BCBG

The day after the Ruffian show was BCBG on September 10th. The whole look for the collection was quite minimal with lots of neutral tones and some brightly coloured pieces towards the end. Make-up and hair was kept quite simple with a pared down look adorning the models' faces and their hair pulled back into ponytails. The result was quite a fresh look, which is perfect for Spring.

Band of Outsiders

Moving on from BCBG the previous day and it's time for the Band of Outsiders show! A fun, quirky brand, this show isn't so much a show as a presentation where the models will be staying static whilst people mill about looking at the collection. Unlike the shows so far, this one will be comprised of both female and male models with the girls being split into two sub-groups "girl-girl" and "girl-boy". Girl-girls were given feminine, free-flowing, wavy hair whereas the girl-boys had their hair pulled back into a braid (taken out just before the start of the presentation but kept in a pony) with a low side-parting; a slightly edgier look which works with the two "girl" concepts. Take a look at the two - and the boys - below!

Marlon Gobel

Busy, busy day today with not one but two shows planned! First up is Marlon Gobel with a showtime of 1.30pm. It's a menswear show - with one woman - and some pretty cool designs that wouldn't look out of place on Chuck Bass. Hair on the guys was slicked back with a slight wave in it, complementing the fun, dandy-ish, gentleman look whilst the only woman in the show had her pulled back into a bouffant with a braid wrapped around it.

Peter Jensen

Next up with an 8pm showtime is Peter Jensen's Spring/Summer 2011 collection. The inspiration and muse for this collection was 1970's-era Shelley Duvall, her of "The Shining" fame. The girls were all given wigs (prepped before) with Shelley-esque cuts and wispy fringes to wear with the brightly coloured clothes and lace-up platforms.

Michael Bastian

The day after is another menswear show - Michael Bastian, who presented his take on American sportswear alongside tailored three-piece suits and formal evening wear. There was also a great leopard print that was used in some of the pieces, which managed to look really great and yet manly, which was quite surprising.

Herve Leger

Another double whammy lined up for today starting with Herve Leger scheduled to show at 2pm and after the Yigal Azrouel show due to start at 6pm. Firstly we have Herve Leger known for their skin-tight bandage dresses and the Spring/Summer 2011 collection was no exception. Referencing Marie Antoinette, the collection featured pieces based on corsets, lingerie and bustle skirts which made the already very sexy bodycon dress that much sexier. Hair was off the face, held back in a loose chignon just below the crown with two black elastic bands wrapped around the top of the head. Some pieces of hair were pulled through after to make it look like the girls had done it themselves.

Yigal Azrouel

Finally, the last show of the day was Yigal Azrouel, recently named as one of fashion's most eligible bachelors! His Spring/summer 2011 collection featured muted, neutral tones with splashes of citrus coloured pieces throughout. Make-up-wise the girls wore super-cool fluorescent pink smeared on just above their eyes, which looked a little futuristic whilst the hair was gelled for a wet-look appearance before being pulled up into another chignon (Neil says that Spring/Summer is the season of the chignon), which also adds to the futuristic look.

Nathan Jenden

It's Neil's last day of New York Fashion Week and the last show is Nathan Jenden. Nathan's inspiration for his Spring/Summer 2011 collection is "The Wiz" meets Diana Ross and that becomes apparent when looking at the hair. For the show Neil created a frizzy texture which was then put up in bunches. For the frizzy frizz, after prepping the hair was tonged in some sections with other smaller sections being crimped before the hair was brushed out, resulting in the uber cool, totally Seventies frizz. This was then tied off into bunches using hair bungees and then the hair fluffed up to make the bunches bigger. This show looked like it was a lot of fun with the multicoloured chairs and the yellow brick catwalk - check this out and all the other shows Neil did in the videos below!