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Question: How much rain is just enough? Answer: When it’s light enough so as not to harm the petals of an English rose. The resplendent blooms were the inspiration behind Burberry Prorsum spring 2014 fashion show this afternoon—where, as if on cue, a spring-like shower began falling on the clear plastic roof of the Kensington Gardens venue as models took the runway.
That same delicate touch was in evidence backstage, where makeup artist Wendy Rowe was applying the fashion house’s subtle, flower-inspired Burberry eye shadows on models—in pretty shades of pink that recalled the translucency and the suede-like texture of a rose petal. She focused on keeping the color concentrated on the center of the eyelid and let it slowly fade outwards, a technique which (along with skipping the mascara) kept things on the right side of modern, Brit cool. To prevent the rest of the face from looking too sweet, she conjured fresh skin with a veil of Burberry Sheer Foundation and a swirl of the company’s Light Glow blush (in Misty Blush and Peony Blush), then blotted a dewy see-through color (the company’s Lip Mist in Trench Kiss and Pink Heather) onto the lips. The floral theme carried over to nail color, where six soft, garden-worthy new shades—in hues that had been plucked straight from the collection and matched to handbags carried in the show—were being painted carefully on each model’s fingertips. (Note: For those who truly cannot wait to get their hands on them, the polishes, which hit counters in January, go on pre-sale at Burberry.com for a limited time starting today and will be delivered to your door in just three weeks.)
Across the room, **Neil Moodie’**s wistfully romantic hair was also deliberately easy and a little undone. “Christopher has modernized the English rose,” he said of the impetus behind the slept-in texture he’d created “with pieces that have flown away,” he said. “[It’s] a bit messy, with a dry, not too glossy texture.” To give it an appropriately rumpled effect, he blew it out using Moroccanoil’s Hydrating Styling Creme for extra volume, then massaged the scalp with his fingers, before letting the strands fall where they may.
As the girls took their finale wearing transparent raw silks and macramé lace pencil skirts in shades of sage green, lavender, or rose-pink, their long hair tucked into their wrap coats, the effect was windswept, ravishingly pretty—and certain to have Bailey’s die-hard Burberry girl headed into stores come spring.