The Los Angeles Times has heralded the upcoming season’s look as a “new era of clean minimalism.” Simple elegance and natural style will be welcome news for those who prefer a less fussy approach to fashion and beauty. While Stella McCartney and Chloe may have ushered this fresh period in with runway shows in major cities, the Hudson Valley’s host of talented designers, makeup artists, and other beauty and clothing experts haven’t been idle themselves.
Functional Fashion
Take Jillian Grano, proprietor of Utility Canvas and a new line, Archerie, for instance. “Right now we’re riding the wave of people wanting things that are practical and functional and not frivolous,” she says. “Our clothes are enjoying the popularity of that right now, though we think that’s important all the time.”
While many will think of canvas—sturdy yet soft and linenlike—as classic and preppy, Grano says the goal of Utility Canvas has been to provide a modern take on the material and provide comfort and function in pieces that are still stylish. Shoppers can ride this clean-edges wave from summer right into the fall with a shirred shirt dress, available in red and white with contrasting stitching and a button-down front. Grano says the dress is a great transitional piece for this time of year—you can finish out the summer bare-legged and then when a chill sets in, use the dress as a lightweight coat. She also recommends Utility Canvas’s quilted outerwear, particularly the natural cream-colored version, which will be a popular color choice for fall.
As much of a staple as Utility Canvas has become for the people who’ve inspired its look—the gardeners, artists, and creatives of the Hudson Valley—there are just come things you can’t quite pull off with canvas. With that in mind, Grano in 2009 launched Archerie, a new line of dresses that provides a polished look suitable for an office or a night out while still maintaining a sense of practicality. For example, the line’s new collared shirtwaist dress is made of an organic merino wool jersey that’s machine washable. Browse through the fall line full of tweed, herringbone, and A-lines, and you might find a common thread style-wise—each outfit seems to hearken back to a time when women wore dresses 24/7. That nostalgic thought is the basis of Archerie, and with shows like “Mad Men” reviving such elegant styles, Grano is expecting to see a lot more of these looks this fall. The look will be defined by what she calls the “feminine silhouette.”
Private Labels
One of the things about buying clothing that comes from local designers is that it’s most likely been designed with you in mind. So is the case with Mary Vaughn Williams of White Rice, whose private-label line ideas are fueled by the people she sees shopping in Hudson and Great Barrington, where her stores are located. According to her, one big fashion idea this fall is the short skirt, which can be worn with bare legs or a bit more modestly with a pair of opaque tights. One of Williams’ favorites right now is the parachute skirt from her White Rice line. Available in short, midcalf, and long lengths, the skirt’s textured parachute material scrunches up at both sides. With a variety of dress styles and wrap silhouettes slated to hit her shelves, Williams is also excited about the shoes that she’ll be carrying, most notably the ankle boots that she says will be popular this fall and pair well with the aforementioned fashions or with a tucked-in skinny jean.
Fit is superimportant, especially for women that might be trying to swing something that’s inherently a bit masculine, like a plaid pattern or a cargo pant. De Marchin is actually restocking his shelves with a fresh order of fitted, legginglike cargo pants that are tailored to hug the feminine form. He had ordered a couple of pairs for summer, but the fit was so flattering that he now has a waiting list for his next shipment.
Your skin is of paramount importance when it comes to the foundation of any season’s look, and clear, healthy skin is the best clean canvas there is. Lexie Masterson, the owner of Clairvoyant Beauty, recommends that you create a “customized wardrobe” for your skin and follow a daily ritual of cleansing and moisturizing that takes your skin’s innate needs and the current weather conditions into consideration, particularly as we move from hot to chilly weather. “The problem that often happens during the change of the season is breakouts, as our skin switches from hot and humid to chillier conditions,“ she says. “What you need to do is keep it as hydrated as possible and as exfoliated as possible.” Though Clairvoyant Beauty’s 100 percent natural products are designed to be mixed and matched according to your skin’s unique conditions and can be used year-round, Masterson recommends the brand’s cucumber line to balance skin during the summer, and the rose line to deeply hydrate in colder conditions. Add in an exfoliating AHA scrub and cream to slough off dead layers and make new skin more receptive to the products you’re applying.
Fresh, clear skin will be even more important this year because late summer and fall makeup is all about nude, barely there looks, says Zuleika Hasbrouck, a Stone Ridge cosmetic artist and founder of Lovelei Cosmetics. “My best advice is to keep it simple—less is more,” she says of this season’s trends. “It doesn’t take but mascara, gloss, and some bronzer—that’s something you can do quick, within two minutes.” Hasbrouck recommends timeless, earthy shades for eyes—nudes, browns, and golden hues—to create simple, smoky looks, and colors like plum and warm greens as accents applied at the inner corner of the eye.
Getting the right application with eye makeup can be challenging. Experiment with colors that compliment your skin tone, and if you still have questions, try some one-on-one guidance with a makeup lesson at Marlene Weber Day Spa in Poughkeepsie. You can bring in your products and the staff will show you which to keep and which to toss, and help you incorporate the season’s latest colors. You’ll also learn the rules of thumb that make professional makeup application look so dramatically different from those typically done at home. Among those rules: blend, blend, blend colors so that they don’t look harsh and caked on, and pick one feature to highlight, leaving the rest more natural looking.
Nailing It
Marlene Weber, owner of the spa and salon, says that while natural looks might rule for the face, it’s rich, deep tones that will be on fingernails this season. As the summer shifts to autumn, the robin’s egg blues and hot pinks and tangerines popular in the warm weather will shift toward deeper, richer colors like plum, gray, green, and smokey brown. Weber says there will also be interesting trends in nail textures, like contrasting suede and shiny looks. “I do think that the multitexture thing will happen in nails again, maybe a shiny nail but then a different texture at the end in the same color,” she says.
And at Studio One Hair Design, Laura Flood says that it’s not really a color or texture that’s going to take the season by storm, but a new type of manicure called shellac that promises super shine and maintenance-free nails for two weeks. “Shellac is the most amazing new product, a hybrid of traditional nail polish and gel polish,” she says. “It’s cured under a UV light so there is zero dry time. It applies like a polish and wears for two weeks of high gloss, chip-free. It’s also great for toes, especially in the colder months, so you don’t leave with your feet freezing.”
Trends in Tresses
Staying in step with the subdued cosmetic looks that have been mentioned, natural curly hair is making a comeback, Weber predicts. “You see texture in clothing and you’ll see texture in hair,” she says, which may be a welcome relief from flat irons and keratin treatments for many women. When it comes to color, Weber also expects that shades will be more multitonal and reflective of the natural color underneath—rather than bold hues we’ll see pale blondes opting for a deep blond, and brunettes will be choosing cooler, chocolate-toned colors for their hair.
At Studio One, Flood is noticing the same inclination toward deeper color. “Richness, whether it’s blond, red, brown, or even black [will be in] as long as it’s lustrous and fresh,” she says. “Browns and reds are reminiscent of food like toffee, cinnamon, chestnut, and chocolate. Past year’s blonds were ashy and now more warmth is in, like a light golden blond or sunflower blond, however you can add a soft violet blond as an accent or highlight to tone down the warmth.”
RESOURCES
Archerie www.iamarcherie.com
Clairvoyant Beauty www.clairvoyantbeauty.com
de Marchin www.demarchin.com
Lovelei Cosmetics www.loveleicosmetics.com
Marlene Weber Day Spa www.marleneweber.com
Michelle Garesche www.michellegaresche.com
Studio One Hair Design www.studiohairdesign.com
Utility Canvas www.utilitycanvas.com
White Rice www.white-rice.com
This article appears in August 2010.
