New York Spring Fashion Week 2014: Behind-the-Scenes Beauty at Prabal Gurung's Show

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Prabal Gurung is known for dressing the First Lady,the Duchess of Cambridge, and countless celebrities, but his shows spark trends in beauty as well as fashion. He invited InStyle to his buzzing studio just 48 hours before the show to give us a behind-the-scenes look at his makeup test with lead makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury, who used MAC cosmetics. Of course, we were thrilled to hear all about Gurung's inspiration and the creative process behind the final product. When asked about conceptualizing the beauty look Gurung says, "For me, the starting point has always been the woman and this season it's very much about celebrating the femininity with just enough bite. The whole theme of the collection is preserving the elegant woman who's become more of an endangered species now, which means not only preserving but celebrating what a woman means – the curves, the décolletage, everything about her." The show opened with the models literally preserved in a plastic box, coming out onto the runway out one by one. The centerpiece of beauty look is the lip, which Tilbury calls "fluoro-pastel," which she created using Mac Lip Mixes ($15; maccosmetics.com). Tilbury told us the face is inspired by "a kind of mannequin, untouchable feeling of these women. They're almost so precious they've got to kind of be incarcerated into this glass box, and can only come out when taken." Click the photo get an exclusive look at all of the details, straight from Prabal Gurung and his glam squad!

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InStyleInspiration

A dozen issues of InStyle for fashion inspiration in the Prabal Gurung studio.

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Prabal Gurung

Gurung told us, "I think what you try to create is a moment and emotion that when people look at the clothes and the girl, it's such a split second of emotion that hopefully when they look at the particular girl with the hair and makeup and the clothes, that they'll walk away feeling something immediately or when they see something else they'll remember that particular moment. It's a moment that I hope something touches their heart."

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Meeting of the Minds

Makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury, head hairstylist Paul Hanlon, and Prabal Gurung discuss their inspiration and ideas before the trial. "What's so great about being a makeup artist is that, a lot of designers take you on their different journeys and they're kind of going through the library of their heads, or kind of their inspiration. He (Gurung) is so specific about his journey of inspiration and always has incredible mood boards, and it really is a proper adventure he takes you on," says Tilbury.

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Prabal's Sketches

From sketches to reality.

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The Makeup Test

Tilbury says, "What I began painting in my head is very much a modern interpretation of an Irving Penn woman. So there's a kind of mannequin feeling to it. There's an elegant perfected beauty of poreless skin, and this perfect slightly overdrawn lips with a Marilyn Monroe-esque quality, and a feline flick across the top of the eyes or arched brows."

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The Final Look

"What's giving it a modern quality is Prabal's amazing different fabrics and wonderful pastels," said Tilbury. "We're creating this "Pepto Bismol" pink kind of quirky, modern pink on the lips for one section and then we're going into this orange red and then we're going to lilac."

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Power Pout

The outrageous lip shades were created using Mac's Lip Mixes ($15; maccosmetics.com).

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The Product Lineup

More Lip Mixes by Mac.

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Couture Claws

For the 7th consecutive season, Prabal collaborated with Sally Hansen to create three exclusive nail polish shades to complement his collection. The lacquers reflect the contrasting finishes: matte and glossy present in the spring show. In a play on the French manicure, each model's nails were painted with a matte top coat, and then the tips were done in a high gloss finish.

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A Sneak Peek at Spring

Three new pastel shades for spring: Lady Lavender, A Wink of Pink and Mint Condtion will be available March 2014 for $7.99 each.

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Karlie Kloss, Backstage

Karlie Kloss shows off the makeup all by Mac. Eyes are matted with P + P Trans CC powder in Adjust and a coffee eye pencil is used to create a "chocolate 50s feline flick."

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Easy on the Eyes

No mascara was used and brows were brushed and set with clear brow set.

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All About the Hair

The hair was done by Paul Hanlon for Osis and called the style Reserved Glamour. "It's like the women have been preserved in time—almost plastic-like," says Hanlon, who used Schwartzkopf products to create the look.

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