This Editor's Fashion Week Highlights

The scene at NY Fashion Week's new—and quite snazzy—location, Lincoln Center.

Every Fashion Week, I am filled with countless emotions—dread over a too-packed schedule, delight over discovering what the next season's directional beauty will be, glee over seeing old (and new!) friends, worry over whether my name will be mysteriously left off the backstage list. And mostly, anticipation: of fabulous technical genius (both beauty and fashion), of carsickness from shoddy cab drivers, of bumps on the head by disgruntled backstage cameramen, of my feet literally screaming bloody murder at me for wearing the most impractical platforms all over town.

All the emotion isn't readily available in my beauty trend-prose, nor is it entirely captured in my photographs. But I thought I'd gather what I feel are personal highlights of my Fashion Week, and share them with you. And, don't worry: I'll be blogging about the looks from my backstage jaunts. I'm just giving my tired mind (and emotions) some time to decompress!

Now, enjoy the show...

CND tapped their educators from all over the nation to create nail designs that stand in as "cocktail rings" for Diego Binetti's show. This stunner took my breath away. Interesting tidbit: Binetti stood backstage with the CND team (Roxanne Valinoti and Kristina Estabrooks) choosing the specific "cocktail" nails for each look for at least 20 minutes. The man knows a great beauty accessory when he sees one!

MAC makeup artist Val Garland creates lips that are reflective of a "prom night spent kissing" at Cynthia Rowley. This alone is cool, but the hair, interlaced with metal-inspired color extensions by Aura Friedman, Wella Professionals Lead Color Ambassador, steps the beauty look up several levels.

Speaking of haircolor, TIGI's Paul Hanlon painted wild neon streaks onto Altuzarra tribal models. And he was careful, too! "Have to be weary of the reds and pinks; they don't tend to come out of hair too easily. The greens and blues, though, they kind of tone the hair!"

If it wasn't neon paint, it was white clay spackling the hair. At least, that was the direction Redken's Guido took at Alexander Wang (no, that's not Guido in the picture). In fact, Guido stood with his hand dripping in clay, holding it up as he talked to me for a good 10 minutes, until he finally said, "I am losing feeling in my hand, I think," to which I said, "We can conclude the interview now!" to which he said, "Nah, it's OK" (in a British accent). A true gentleman.

One of my favorite nail techs, Elle, was holding court at the Essie manicure booth set up in Lincoln Center. She squeezed me in for a quick mani and even Essie herself stopped by to have a chat.

I'm not gonna lie: The Rodarte show is what I look forward to every season, and my good friends at Aveda are the ones that make sure I get to take it all in. The clothes, the hair (by Odile Gilbert for Aveda), the makeup (by James Kaliardos for MAC) were all so utterly beautiful, as a collective, it took my breath away. As did standing next to Kanye West for five full mintutes.

Also breath-taking: Orlando Pita's genius. The man can spin the idea of an obi sash into a subdued chignon with hair-coated barretts (which, naturally, he made). Pita teamed up with Moroccanoil for this hairstyle, which graced the heads of the gracefully chic models at Carolina Herrera.

A little less sophisticated, decidely more spunky: the Betsey Johnson show. By leaps and bounds the most fun show there is, equipped with the craziest backstage. Stila and Redken did the beauty honors, and everything was inspired by Betsey's bike rides through NYC, which played on the big screen during the runway show. Two best beauty features: Redken's Peter Gray cut neon tights into little hair elastics for a recession-chic twist, and Stila's Sarah Lucero cut faux lashes straight across for a blunt edge that represents bicycle spokes. Love it!

While I kept it pretty tame during Fashion's Night Out (trust me, I was in bed EARLY), I did pop in to Cynthia Rowley's SoHo store to see Wella Professionals recreate the look they did for Rowley's Fall 2010 runway show. (BTW: Look for my "Runway Report" on this show in the November issue of Launchpad!) Anyone could get in the chair for a quick clip-in, jewel-tone extension (I chose emerald). I wore mine throughout Fashion Week!

The pit: If you haven't seen it, here it is. I only include it because it fascinates me. The amount of yelling and screaming (usually: "Front row, uncross your legs!) is mind-boggling.

But to end on a happy note: I did capture a few smiling faces when I was backstage. More than a few. This model had settled in for hair mastery by Teddy Charles for Remington at Luca Luca. And she was all smiles, which made me all smiles.

And this, my friends, was a sliver of my Fashion Week. The highlights, if you will. 'Til next season...