London fashion week autumn/winter 2012: roksanda ilincic

Marc says: "This was our second Roksanda show and after the success of the last, myself and the team were eager to come up with another cool creation.

"We arrived at 7.45am so we had plenty of time to create the look on the 27 girls before the show started at 11am. The venue was the Institute of Directors on Pall Mall -  the perfect backdrop to such a glamorous collection. The interlinked rooms create such a cool, quirky runway.

  

"My brief from Roksanda was that the collection was super polished, luxurious, and with a 1940's influence. The colour palette was very luxurious and included golds, navy and aubergine. We wanted to keep it youthful, fresh and modern so opted for a lived-in contemporary hair texture. Recreating something retro would have made the overall mood look dated and we wanted the contrast to be quite extreme.

"Dishevelled messy, grungy buns was the agreed final look, with a contemporary lived in texture. We worked product into the hairline, enhancing the baby hairs around the hairline, working down onto the cheekbone to create glossy 'sideburns'.  

Get the look: Apply CW RESULTS Texturising Spray throughout the roots, mid-lengths and ends on dry hair and re-dry with the hairdryer on low speed and heat. Rough dry with fingers, working the flyways on to the face and the rest of the hair back away from the face towards the crown with minimal root lift.

Gently back-brush the internal root area around the crown, leaving the edges natural.  This is to give a little padding to the ponytail we are about to create, so the hair isn't too tight to the head.  

Using your fingers on top, rake through and scoop the hair into a ponytail in the middle of the head at the back, using the top of the ears as a guide for your positioning - so not too high or low. I just used my fingers on top but used a brush on the underneath so it sat a little flatter without bagginess at the nape.

Secure the ponytail with a normal elastic band by pulling the hair through, but on the last loop only pull through the band about an inch and leave. This loop is now the foundation base for the bun. 

The ends of the ponytail are now wrapped around this loop and the ends tucked under loosely to create a messy bun/knot shape. Use long hairpins to secure but only a couple as the product we prepped with is enough to keep in place.

Now work more flyways out on the face, concentrating on the cheekbones and sideburns by buffing the surface and teasing strands out from the bulk of hair, adding more texturising pray around the front hairline to wet down, massaging into sideburns. Apply product no further down than the ear lobe, leave the ends matte and dry to give the look movement when walking as they 'float'.

In the final stage at model line up, I simply use a little CW Front Row Crackle Wax on my fingertips and 'pat' into the hairline to create more gloss around the face.

Marc says: "I must say, this show was the most stress free, calm and relaxed atmosphere to date.  We finished the models in plenty of time so there were no last minute dramas.  Being so early in the morning was great as the models had fresh hair to style.

Being backstage in the line up, tweaking and applying finishing touches is so exciting.  Seeing 27 girls in one line with identical hair, skin and make up is incredible, the whole collection appears so strong, the beauty in Roksanda's designs are stronger than ever!"