Caught somewhere between a vagabond, a rebel and a punk, Louise Gray’s A/W13 collection was inspired by the New York generation of the 1950s and 60s...
Caught somewhere between a vagabond, a rebel and a punk, Louise Gray’s A/W13 was inspired by the New York generation of the 1950s and 60s. “A lived in, perhaps lived in all night feel,” suggested make-up artist James O’Reilly, whose restricted colour palette of red and black helped cement the unruly edge to Gray’s collection. “While in the past I've used a lot of colour for Louise's show, I wanted to make the girl a bit harder, less considered in a sense.” Individually cut strip lashes were glued at random underneath the eyes, while some girls wore eyelash extended sunglasses designed by Lunettes Kollektion. “It was about finding the beauty in the imperfections of a make-up,” says O’Reilly, “as I often find it is what’s left over that is most beautiful, a more fragile kind of beauty.”
“It was about finding the beauty in the imperfections of a make-up,” says O’Reilly, “as I often find it is what’s left over that is most beautiful, a more fragile kind of beauty.”
Hair was unkempt, matt and dishevelled, piled high with toilet-paper rollers, created by Nick Irwin, Global Creative Director for Tigi. “It was just very important that the hair looked like it had not been washed for a long time,” he explains. “so to exaggerate the dirtiness of the hair, we painted gel onto the roots.” The models wore bright bin bag hats designed by Stephen Jones and tin foil added by stylist Richard Sloan, alongside cellophane jewellery, tin foil badges and kitchen utensil earrings, transporting the audience back to the ragged, fast-paced extravagance of the 1960s. The collection was typically Gray, where humour and attitude and clashing patterns were coupled with wearable pieces, such as a woollen sweaters, double-breasted coats or an oversized tote back embroidered with the words “HEY CRAZY,” the name of the collection itself.
Text by Mhairi Graham
