Now look here

Kate Sylvester fashion show on day two of New Zealand Fashion Week. Photo / Babiche Martens

Hair and makeup are the unsung stars of Fashion Week - they define a designer's look - but in all the talk about clothes, this other creative work can be overlooked.

NOM*d's ethereal travellers, Kate Sylvester's black-lipped beauties and Trelise Cooper's bright, big-haired glamazons - imagine those shows stripped bare of their styling. The collaborative effort that is a fashion show truly is a case of the sum being a multiplying factor of the parts.

Today we've pulled together a few of the styling standouts from Fashion Week and explained a little about these looks.

Fashion Week styling is dominated by a group of show specialists.

Uber-stylists from Ryder salon and Stephen Marr did many of the top shows, and M.A.C managed makeup for 19 shows, with newcomer Smashbox adding to this year's mix.

Industry leader Paul Serville showed how to get hair looks wearable (see over) in his team's work on the less edgy public Designer Selection shows.

Other hair and makeup experts also plied their trade in an area of Fashion Week that has become more and more professional each year, but we've concentrated here on three key looks: the dark, the bright and the nude. (There's also the individualists whose show looks don't slot neatly into the clear trends, but are still of the moment, as best evidenced this year by the blush-cheeked Victorian women at Cybele).

The three clear trends are showing strongly in fashion - and in hair and makeup looks for off the runway as well as on it.

Take inspiration rather than directly copying, by aiming for hair that is more styled (even if it looks mussied up) and makeup that makes a statement.

Invest in a dark eye pencil, a bold lippy or a nude gloss, and blush or shimmer powder. Make sure your skin is clear and glowing.

*For more hair and makeup looks check out www.nzherald.co.nz where you can see more pictures from the designer shows. (From the Herald homepage, click on to the Fashion Week link, and look out for the Expert Eye reviews with picture galleries from the runway and Backstage Beauty, where Simply You's Catherine Smith takes you behind the scenes to explain the inspiration behind various looks and how to recreate them.

KATE SYLVESTER
Having Judith "Black Lips" Baragwanath as muse clearly gave a focus to the show's appearance, but the sculpted cheeks, metallic touches round the eye and slicked back, but still flowing hair and strong brows made a statement of their own.
(Hair by Lucy Vincent-Marr for Stephen Marr, makeup by Amber D, senior makeup artist for M.A.C)

TRELISE COOPER
The 30s and early 40s elegance of the movie Atonement and the power brights of the 80s pastiched nicely into a smoky, elegant eye and red lips that popped at Trelise Cooper. Hair reached new heights, but wasn't hard-edged, with stylist Grant Bettjeman describing it as "dramatic, deconstructed" turning an up-do into a towering quiff of which a modern Marie Antoinette would have been proud.
(Hair by Grant Bettjeman of Bettjemans, makeup by Amber D and M.A.C).

ZAMBESI
Hair stitched into place at the nape featured at Zambesi where models made the dark look elegant, rather than gothic. Hair was glossy and straightened before being pulled into place. Makeup mixed a flawless porcelain skin with an eye fanned roun in black powder.

(Hair by Greg Murrell of Ryder Salon and makeup by Amber D and the M.A.C team).

CYBELE
Hair was Victorian prim and heavily natural-look brows, but the flushed cheeks of the model hinted at the more exotic underbelly of an era of discovery and exploration.

The designer's inspiration was botanical, with winged panels featuring in her clothes. The stage was backlit by fairylights peeping through the wings of a black moth and this dichotomy was echoed in the centre-parted buns and the butterfly-bright bursts of blush.
(Hair by Lauren Gunn for Stephen Marr and makeup by Amber D for M.A.C)

NOM*D
Hair was bobby-pinned flat, but left wispy round the edges and makeup was either all nude, or used little wings of eye-shadow for a playfully fey decoration. Skin prepping by Dermalogica before the show helped ensure dewy complexions carried off the barely-there look which required quite a bit of work: a groomed brow, softly blushed cheeks, blended subtle eyeshadow in brown with hints of ice blue and concealed lips.
(Hair by Greg Murrell of Ryder and makeup by Neisha xxxxxx at Smashbox).

STOLEN GIRLFRIENDS
The design team probably won't thank me for this, but the hair reminded me of Gisele Bundchen's glorious mane, with a ropey twist. That twist was the theme "nomadic abandonment" and the way braiding was added across the front and stitched round the hairline to the nape. The style had a little volume, then flowed free, with a rough edge given by the use of MS California Sea Salt Spray to twist and dry hair in large sections. Back-brushing gave volume and dry wax added texture.
(Hair by Greg Murrell of Ryder)

GHD NEW GENERATION
This group show had two looks: one Gucci-inspired with kohl-rimmed smoky eyes and glossy nude lips and the one we've pictured which is all about the defined eye. False lashes were applied at the outer edge and lash line extended with a flick of black eyeliner at the inner and outer corners. Lips were softly stained. Gleaming skin figured for both.
(Makeup by Smashbox)