The fulerton files bring on the bling

I’ve been doing London Fashion Week shows for nearly eight years, but it’s not the case this season. Not only am I between agents (they organise my bookings), but I’ve decided to concentrate on my personal ventures, writes Andrea Fulerton However, one show I’ve thoroughly enjoyed doing the nails for is one of India’s best-loved fashion designers, Manish Arora, who shows here twice a year. His clothes are bright and vibrant – a wild mix of traditional Indian costume, exquisite embroideries, Pop Art, high kitsch and psychedelic futurism. Manish was invited back to England to do Fashion in Motion – a series of live catwalk events presented at London’s V&A museum just before London Fashion Week. Featuring some of the greatest designers of our time, the event brings catwalk couture to a wider audience by modelling it against the beautiful backdrop of the V&A. Previous designers have included Christian Lacroix and Vivienne Westwood. A delight to work with, my assistant Trish Lomax and I spent a morning backstage doing the nails of the 19 models – tights meant no tootsies this time. Before the event, I had to go to the casting to meet MAC cosmetic’s Caroline Donnelly to offer some ‘nail looks’ to complement the make-up (created back in New York City by uber-talented Sex in the City make-up artist Kabuki). Nineteen models, two nail technicians and two hours to do hair, make-up and nails meant my look couldn’t be too complicated or time-consuming. As usual, Manish wanted a dazzling look to complement his collections. Don’t spare the ‘bling’ was music to my ears! I immediately called MAC Pro PR to have some of its glitter biked over. I’d worked on Elle magazine’s Christmas issue the week before and had fallen for the metallic look that I’d created on my own fingers that day. A black theme ran through Manish’s clothes so, after removing any existing varnish and a quick file of the nails (I’m loving Bliss’s Diamancel nail files), I used MAC black varnish over Essie First Base basecoat. As I painted, I sprinkled a little glitter a few inches above the freshly painted nails. The nails were left to dry as normal. It was a real success and dazzled on the catwalk for four shows from 10am til 9pm. It stayed in place and none of the models wanted it removed at the end of the day, preferring to keep it on for the weekend’s activities!