Tauranga business owner Chrissy Mochan (of Bliss Baskets) won a makeover with NEXT magazine in late 2010. The photos in the magazine show her wearing WORLD, and styled by its designer, the iconic Denise L'Estrange Corbet.
Margaret of Personal Style saw the photos and knew she could do better. Yes - better than WORLD! So after gifting Chrissy a Personal Style consultation (to discover her best colours and clothing styles), Margaret assembled her favourite Tauranga stylists for a makeover collaboration on Chrissy - to right the wrongs of the NEXT makeover.
Before Margaret sent me these magazine pages I was a little sceptical she could improve on designer styling. I thought, she's either being *very* picky to critise this makeover, or there is something VERY WRONG. I could not imagine a makeover going 'wrong' when styled by a well-respected designer.
So did Margaret do better? Well, yes. If better means more wearable in real life (this is Tauranga after all, not Auckland's High Street), suited to Chrissy's best colours and a little more in tune with her body shape. Surely this should be the mark of a fab makeover? A new look that can be sustained: A makeover that takes into account the natural features of the person being made over. Surely not too much to ask?
Below are the professionally styled 'after' photos, followed by the 'before' shot Chrissy sent into NEXT magazine to win the makeover.
There is a improvement! But it is so far below what I am used to seeing in good makeover stories. I can see problems with the styling in every single photo below - the colours, the shapes, the styles...
This makeover highlights the gap between 'high fashion' and 'good styling'. The principles of colour and proportion that are used internationally by stylists, artists, interior designers and colour consultants - that simply 'work' - were not used here. There are rules and principles to looking good - a science behind what we humans find pleasing to look at. If high fashion is about breaking rules, then there were too many rules broken here for success.
Here's how we 'made over' the NEXT makeover:
• Chrissy had her hair colour corrected to remove the warmth added in the initial makeover as she suits the cooler tones. Chrissy also has redness on her cheeks and the warmth in her hair was only emphasising this. Her hair was also styled in a more flattering shape (courtesy of Becky Urquart from B. Hair).
• Makeup was then applied using her best colours (by myself, Lillybeth: A Beautiful Education) - not the barely-there apricot tone seen in the casual photos, but a more visible, pastel pink, then a berry-hot pink for the dressy look, rather than the bold red seen in the magazine. I avoided applying a true red simply because Chrissy's hair and skin is rather pale and a red lipstick is a bold look that could easily 'overpower' her and is best kept for more dramatic evening makeup with eye makeup that supports it. Blush was kept to a cool pink and eye shadow to a natural beige and medium brown, to keep within her best cool, or 'blue-based' colours.
• Chrissy brought her own clothes to be styled in her best colours and fashion 'lines' and styles (by Margaret of Personal Style).
• Then Chrissy posed for professional studio images (by Justine of Sassi Photography).
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| Applying the lip colour on Chrissy's natural but very polished makeup look. |
Compare our finished result to the NEXT magazine makeover:
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| LEFT: Makeover results from collaboration of Tauranga stylists. RIGHT: Makeover in NEXT. |
I think it's fair to say Chrissy looks more attractive, healthy and shapely in the first image. If you're not sure exactly why that is or where the NEXT makeover went wrong, I'll comment on each of Chrissy's makeover looks in the next blog post along with more of our photos.
