Done but undone hair, pink lips, blue nails: Top beauty trends from Toronto Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2020
Prepare to serve some major, if imperfect, looks come spring!
For kids it's all about back-to-school this week, but for the fashion cognoscenti in Toronto, the week starts on a high with the latest fashion week offerings. This season, TFW took over a new venue in Yorkville (the former Anthropologie building), resplendently rustic with scuffed up wood paneled floors, and a dramatic staircase at one end of the catwalk. Shows not taking place in the ritzy neighbourhood were seen at the Royal Ontario Museum, with attendees floating across the ROM's glorious herringbone floors.
Gorgeous spaces, people and even clothes aside, beauty watchers looked out for makeup, hair and nail cues for spring and summer 2020. There were multiple makeup standouts over the three days of shows, as well as enviable hair and nails that are begging to be taken to the streets of everyday life.
Here are the biggest beauty messages from Toronto Fashion Week Spring 2020.
Bright eyes
Eye-popping was the theme at multiple TFW shows. Over at Farley Chatto, his jazz era, 1920's-inspired collection came complete with regal metallic purple lids. Paired with a classic deep red pout, the overall effect was modern.
At jewelry designer Hania Kuzbari's presentation at the Hazelton Hotel, colourful winged cat eyes — bright pops of aqua blue, acid green, deep sunshine yellow, and more electric hues — complemented chic statement necklaces and earrings.
Expect to see mixing and matching of liners and shadows come spring. When models eyes weren't hidden behind bejeweled cat eye sunglasses from Black Iris at Adrian Arnieri, they revealed mismatched lids: a swipe of bright blue along the bottom lash line, and cherry red along as just one example.
At Trigère, Franklin Benjamin Elman, the Montrealer who revamped the storied New York fashion house in 2018, sent his models down the runway with swipes of deep turquoise on the lower lash line, which joined either hits of purple or orange or red in a swooping cat eye.
Pink and blue
For Spring 2020, when it comes to the pout, pink is where it's at. Models at many shows sported rosy lips in as many shade variations. At Kim Newport's show, pale pink lips were well placed against glowing skin, naturally groomed brows and cat eye winged liner. Over at Steven LeJambe, matte pink lips were played up by placing highlighter on the Cupid's Bow or by complementing with matching shadow on the lids — a similar look was spotted at Catherine Curtis as well. To contrast the neons and frothy frocks at Narces, the makeup team placed bright matte bubble gum pink, coral, and watermelon against bronze-highlighted skin.
Our fingertips, however, may run cool blue come spring. Hilary MacMillan's show was one of the most anticipated; the designer recently committed to an all-vegan line and announced that her pieces will go up to size 28. To complement the collection's dreamy blue and white palette — "The inspiration for this season all started with a colour: cerulean," MacMillan said in a press release before the show — CND nail artist Tamara Di Lullo painted nails creamy white with a custom snakeskin print, mismatched shades of matte blue, and the stand out, denim print blue talons which paired perfectly with quilted baby blue trench, silky suiting and crisp white frocks.
Done undone strands
Model-off-duty strands have ruled the runways and the streets for the better part of the past decade, but now things are coming back to a more polish look. "There's a little bit more precision to things," said Jorge Joao, Global Redken Artist and the hair lead at TFW. "Now, people are wanting to see lines, they want to see a bit more definition." While things were a bit more sleek there was still room for well thought-out messiness, which Joao highlighted by playing with the natural texture of each model's hair. The master stylist and fashion week vet recommends prepping hair by squeezing water out of locks after the shower with cotton t-shirt materials as opposed to a regular towel, to protect the cuticles from being roughed up too much, which would ultimately cause frizz.
This trend of done undone hair was exemplified in classic finger-waves at Farley Chatto, the slightly messy curls at RVNG, and Tome's messy chic ponytail, with the middle part that looked like a sleek headband.