London Fashion Week Autumn Winter 2014

London Fashion Week is not only a great place to see what we might be wearing for the coming season, but it also gives great insight into future hair and beauty trends. I was really excited to attend my first season last week, and popped along to a couple of the shows courtesy of The Body Shop and Schwarzkopf.

This February, we were looking forward to the AW14 styles, and a trip backstage at the Zeynep Kartel show at Fashion Scout revealed lots of ombre lips in dark berry colours, with a flush of colour on the cheeks and very simple, bare eyes.

Jo Sugar's face chart for Zeynep Kartel - credit Lolo Creative

Jo Sugar - head makeup artist

Head makeup artist Jo Sugar showed us one of her face charts that was used across all the models and some of the Body Shop products used to create this.

I loved the hairstyles from this show. The models had a simple braid at the front, with lots of backcombing at the roots, creating almost a mini-beehive, but without pinning the hair up. It looked like a merger between a vintage 60s inspired style and a Grecian look, and is definitely something I can see working well off the catwalk in a less dramatic style.

The clothes were also beautiful – lots of slinky evening dresses, trousers suits and sequins, with everything looking so elegant and perfect for the parties AW usually brings.

The second show I went to took a completely different approach. Jason Garvida’s ‘Ethologie’ line had a Spanish influence to it, and before the catwalk show started, we were treated to an amazing flamenco dance, accompanied by a traditional Spanish guitar. The 'Una Vida Bien Vivida' show was inspired by the story of Carmen by Bizet, taking traditional Spanish costume and patterns and turning in into a contemporary collection.

This show also has a retro feel to it, but blended with the Spanish influence. There was a lot of lace, bright prints and cute dresses in this line up, and while the makeup was kept quite simple, the hair played a larger role.

Using Schwarzkopf products, the styling team had created soft, finger waves at the front of the models’ hair to frame the face. The rest of the hair was pinned back, and secured with beautiful lace veils, giving another lean towards the Spanish influence.

I can’t wait to see how both of these looks translate into products for the autumn – which one of the two is your favourite?