New York Fashion Week Spring 2012 Beauty Roundup: 10 Runway Looks You Should Not Try At Home

Most of the beauty looks this season were minimal, natural, and quite pretty and wearable (well, except the wet mullets). But those aren't fun to look at, are they? No, we don't think so either. So please click through to see the 10 looks that we never hope to see on someone in the subway at three in the afternoon but that we loved seeing on the runways.

Author:: Cheryl Wischhover
Updated:: Apr 9, 2014
Original:: Sep 16, 2011

Most of the

Thakoon: Pastel hair made a cameo on several runways this season (Narciso Rodriquez and Mark Fast pulled out the spray paint, and Peter Som went a bit more subtle with pink extensions.)

United Bamboo: Faux corn-rows seem very time consuming.

Costello Tagliapietra: Orange you glad this is just for the runway?

Rodarte: Oh hey panda lady!

Richard Chai Love: Someone always has to pull out the blue lipstick. This was Richard Chai's year. Chilly!

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Prabal Gurung: Has someone been sucking on a grape ring pop? We knew it!

Betsey Johnson: Is that a Real Housewife? You gotta love a pink sparkly boob rhinestone.

Jill Stuart: It's like a pretty version of Donald Trump's comb-over.

Jeremy Laing: Plastic, c'est chic!

Jeremy Scott: The Beverly Hillbillies' Elly May Clampett, anyone? Yessss.

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What we actually want to wear on our nails and what we just like to look at on other people's nails are two very different things sometimes. The nail artistry at this week's New York fashion week actually veered both ways for us this season. While nudes are still a thing, and orangey poppy reds (see Jason Wu) had a strong showing, there were a few surprises, too. Manicurist Jin Soon Choi told us backstage at Alexander Wang to watch for super dark colors (not very spring-like) mixed with brights--for example a mixed mani/pedi. She also said that bright colors with a 70s feeling like purple and turquoise would be big come spring. The established designers went fairly minimal with makeup and nails this season, but we love that indie designers (and Betsey Johnson, of course!) are still taking nail risks.

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New York is unreasonably cold right now. Like impending-blizzard-freeze-your-Rag & Bone-covered-butt-off cold. This is exactly why we, and fashionistas nowhere near New York, are praising the fashion gods (more like IMG & various PR people) for the glorious amount of New York fashion week shows livestreaming this week. We wrangled 89 shows (89!) and presentations to tune into over the course of the next week...with even more coming in! The best part? You won't be judged for taking in these shows in your pjs over some popcorn or pizza or half a bottle of wine... See any shows we missed? Let us know!

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Bleached, non-existent brows have become commonplace on the runway, if not yet on the subway, over the last few seasons. Lara Stone is the obvious poster girl for this look, and it has slowly become ubiquitous at shows and in editorials. Take a look at the recent SS2011 runways: Marc Jacobs, Alex Wang, YSL---nary a brow in sight. I’ve seen this look enough now that it doesn’t seem as shocking, bizarre, and otherworldly as it once did. Is this a sign that it’s a trend that’s ready for adoption by the masses? I spoke to hair colorist Laurie Foley, who was responsible for the brows--or lack thereof---at both the Marc Jacobs and Rodarte SS2011 shows. Laurie has her own salon, L’Atelier de Laurie and is a Wella Color Ambassador. She’s been a professional stylist and colorist for 33 years, with a specialty in innovative and challenging hair trends. Laurie doesn’t offer the process at her salon, because well, she can’t. It’s not what hair dye is manufactured for. (In the medical world, when you use a drug for something for which it wasn’t originally intended, it’s called an “off-label use.” Same concept here.) Read on.

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