DOLCE & GABBANA MILAN FASHION WEEK SS/ 11

I woke up with butterflies in my stomach the day of the Dolce & Gabbana show, I felt like I was a kid and it was Christmas morning. But instead of running down the stairs and seeing a Christmas tree with loads of presents under it,  I was whisked backstage to the Dolce & Gabbana show at the chic Metropoli in Milan. This was a real honour, as they have not let journalists and bloggers backstage before and given so much exclusive access, so I was really thrilled to be asked. I was also to meet and interview one of my make up heroes- Pat Mcgrath, who was creating the make up look for the show. 


In the beauty industry Pat is our Mick Jagger. She is a legend who transcends make up and turns it into art. She is super skilled but it's her ideas, inspirations and concepts that make her so interesting and why I love the beauty industry. It's not just about lipsticks, it's about a mood, channeling characters from history about being that feisty bitch rocking a red lip and owning it (word). Make up can help you become, express and unleash sides of your nature, which both empower and excite you and that's beauty to me and Pat Mcgrath is the high priestess of this school of beauty. All great artists tell stories and they tell them really well whatever the medium be it film, music, fashion or make up and the Dolce & Gabbana show didn't disappoint. Backstage was the most organised and most chic backstage I have ever been to. It was all clean black and white lines, security guards with presidential style radio mics and ears pieces in D& G black suits and patent leather shoes politely saying please move back and wait for your pass Signorina. Even the bottles were lines up in an very pleasing and OCD manner (at LFW you'll be lucky to find some overturned red bulls and half eaten Pret a manger sandwiches). I said to myself, "you're not in Kansas anymore Ateh".  Lovely Chanel Iman was backstage and I said hi to her bless that girl she was so sweet she remembered me from LFW!


Pat was brilliant and created a make up look every women in the world aspires to a glowing, simple, clean chic and polished look with a nude to red mouth depending on the girls. Pat said the collection was mainly all white and that Domenico and Stefano wanted the girls to look sensual and gorgeous. She said the guys were inspired by white lace and the make up had to be natural and very peaceful, which it was. Pat has been working with the guys for 12 years and said it was a joy to collaborate with them and you could really see the relationship between the beauty and the clothes. 

Pat used the Dolce & Gabbana make up line she created and used the eyeshadow quad in nude in the crease and just under the eye with lashings of black mascara on the top lashes only. She lined the eye with the chocolate pencil but also said you can wet black/ dark brown eye shadow to use as a liner to give the eye definition. The top of the cheek bones were chiseled using a silver ish highligher, which made the girls look like angles and a caramel blush was used on the cheek for a slight sun kissed yet sophisticated look. My absolute favourite backstage product was the new lip jewels! The packaging was blinging with a giant ruby on top and it housed a quad of creamy lip colours in Dahlia, Devil, Ultra and Nude. Pat said she was mixing the colours together for some girls and using them separately on others, which was fab. The palette works well on all skin tones (no BS) and was too delicious. 


Eugene Souleiman who is a super creative powerhouse of a session stylist created the hair look for the show. He is also a complete sweetie! Both Pat and Eugene had to prepare 50 girls for the show but like all people at the top of their game, they both had time to talk me through the look with no diva drama or hissy fits. He said the guys wanted the hair to be romantic, soft but without looking like wedding hair, so he created a loose raw chignon with some structure at the back but with fly aways. He blowdried the hair at the roots to give the hair guts before twisting and pinning it. It was very dreamy and covetable hair.


Before I knew it-it was time to leave and go and see the actual show. The waiting area was v glam and they served amaretto sorbet, which stopped me in my tracks and almost made me trip on a stair, it was so good. Ice cream, beauty looks to die for and amazing fashion to come, I was in heaven and having some sort of out of body experience. Inside Kylie, Naomi Campbell, Anna Wintour, Suzy Menkes and Hilary Alexander were all excitably waiting for the show to start. Giant plasma screens showed us all the hussle and bussle that was taking place backstage, which felt very interactive and cool,  as we saw the girls having finishing touches applied to their hair and make up before hitting the catwalk. 


The show started with a huge projection of images of Sicily with old women making lace, of beautiful Monica Bellucci types cradling their beloved little first born boys and white washed church staples, which was quite emotional as they were really drawing from their past and personal heritage. Then out walked a succession of beautiful girls some with tits and ass (model tits and ass, so that's a size 8/10 to you and me), which was quite shocking but fantastic to see. The clothes told a story of a Sicilian woman on her wedding day with beautifully crafted white lace dresses. Then this woman made her way onto the beach with flirty white romper suits. Then all of a sudden the colour palette changed from brilliant white to that of black adorned young sensual widows dressed in curve clinging black power suits. The final florish was that of embellished blinging white dresses, which made me gasp they were so fabulous and made parts of the audience burst into spontaneous applause they were so overcome with the beauty of the white dresses and shimmering diamante. 


I left on a high and then was grabbed outside by a Dolce and Gabbana camera crew, as they wanted to interview me about my blog and what I thought about the show, which really was the most glam ending to a fab time at the show. I could see people looking at me, as they were spilling out into the street  thinking that Oprah's aged well but her weight's gone up again. Oh well. Thank you Dolce and Gabbana and Pat Mcgrath for a fantastico time in old Milano! See you next season Ciao bella!