What to Do This Weekend: Take a Trip to Harlem for a Fresh Perspective On Beauty

Hank Willis Thomas, Who Can Say No to a Gorgeous Brunette?

Photo: Courtesy of The Studio Museum Many of the best beauty statements from the Fall 2015 runways, like the gold-leaf masks at Rick Owens, the bright, brushstroked lids at Céline, and the face sketches atJacquemus, served as striking examples of what happens when art and beauty collide. Those dramatic looks made us think beyond the usual how-tos and left us wanting more.

J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere, Ogun Pari

Photo: Courtesy of The Studio Museum

Almost as if on cue, The Studio Museum in Harlem is stepping in to fill the void with Salon Style, a new exhibit showcasing artists that use hair and nails to explore issues such as gender, politics, and beauty standards. “Hair and nails can be markers of our identities. They are readily apparent to the world, but also intrinsic to the way we understand and express ourselves,” says Hallie Ringle, the museum’s senior curatorial assistant. Ringle spent five months selecting items forSalon Style, most of which come from the museum’s permanent collection of nearly 2,000 works. She sought out artists who were using hair and nails as a medium or a subject in unexpected ways. The title has a double meaning—it’s a nod to beauty shop creations and the traditional art term for numerous artworks presented in a small space.

Kevin Beasley, Untitled (FootNeck)

Photo: Courtesy of The Studio Museum

The exhibit is housed in the second-floor gallery of the museum. It’s a quiet, intimate setting for visitors to take in the thought-provoking pieces. The standouts include Kevin Beasley’s Untitled (FootNeck), a T-shirt-covered foam ball decorated with duckbill clips meant to reference the confidence of rocking unfinished hair in public. There’s also Ogun Pari, a black-and-white photograph of an African woman’s sculptural hairstyle by J.D. Okhai Ojeikere, and Flo Jo World Record Nails by Pamela Council. The artist—inspired by Olympian Florence Griffith Joyner’s signature mani—created a model of a 200-meter running course out of more than 2,000 colorful acrylic nails.

Pamela Council, Flo Jo World Record Nails 

Photo: Courtesy of The Studio Museum

Salon Style is a small yet powerful show that Ringle hopes sparks conversation. “I’d like viewers to walk away with a deeper understanding of beauty—that it’s not superficial but fundamental to cultures all over the world,” she says.

Salon Style is on view until June 28 at The Studio Museum in Harlem, 144 West 125th St., NYC.  

Beauty trends we weren't expecting from London Fashion Week

From elephant tails to ombré eyes, here are the eight most INTERESTING beauty trends that London Fashion Week has thrown up from behind the backstage scenes so far

Sun damage de rigueur 
The fashion for freckles finally makes it way from the neck down as seen at Preen, where Nicola Joss, global tanning and skin finishing expert for St Tropez "took the delicate dusting of freckles down from the face and onto the chest, arms and legs." 

Giant bows 
Take a bow, a giant one, because it's time to super size accessorise say Sibling, under the helm of hair stylist Kenna. We love an Alice band n' all, though of this big trend we may have to bow out. 

Ombré eyeliner 
For Holly Fulton's faces - created in the name of "youth, elegance and modernity," explained lead make-up artist Andrew Gallimore - we think we spotted ombre eyeliner. From icy blue on the inner corners to an electric hue on the outer, yes Gallimore had taken the current trend for a dip-dye to the eye, using MAC's Chromographic Pencil in Hi-Def Cyan blended seamlessly into the Pure White shade by the time it go to the tear duct. We're now just waiting for eyelights. 

Brideshead revisited 
After a sizeable portion of ponytails (which even he admits he's bored of) it was only a matter of shows before international backstage hair stylist James Pecis did something different. But we had to wait until the Julian Macdonald show, where Pecis decided to veil the tightly cropped and braided head of hair belonging to the last model (wearing the £4 million wedding dress by the way) all over with lace cut outs for his take on bridal beauty. 

Lace n locks by @jamespecis @julienmacdonald #hair #lfw said @stiffyhm. Photo: @stiffyhm

Evangelical sweat beads 
Was it the lighting, was it the nerves, was it the thought they had another four days to go at LFW that had got the models into a cold sweat? No, it was in fact gel skin, carved and cooked into sweat-beads by Andrew Gallimore, the lead make-up artist for Teatum Jones who had spent hours the night before melting the creations in his microwave. Why was she sweating we asked? Inspired by a young Nina Simone, "the Teatum Jones girl is in an evangelical frenzy," he explained. 

Photo: @andrewgallimakeup

Pearl finish Princess Margaret manicures 
"Pearl finishes are the least forgiving. On little old ladies who wear pearl polish you can always spot every ridge and snag," admitted nail artist Michelle Humphries, the Maybelline nail expert who led the backstage pearl-on-pearl manicure team for Shrimps. But create it they did, with Princess Margaret as the inspiration: "The trick is to use a good base coat, and buff your nails beforehand," according to Humphries, and use a thicker polish just like Maybelline's Marshmellow. It's been a while, but we may just give pearl a whirl. 

Elephant tails at Bora Asku 
Apparently it's not just ponytails we'll be wearing in six months time, it's Nelly the elephant's tail too, as illustrated on the Bora Asku runway. 

Photo: Isadore Montag

Chain Nail 
Mariana Jungmann's manicure team decided to pierce nails and hang fine metal chains from the long, shiny tips like a gun-metal waterfall. Just mind how you text. 

Photo: @_zeromagazine

source