Twenty years after MAC Cosmetics firmly planted its flag backstage at ready-to-wear shows, the brand is continuing its quest for fashion week domination by expanding its nail sponsorship from New York to Europe and by co-branding events for the upcoming rtw shows.

“We are reinforcing our position that we are the [beauty] brand of record for fashion,” said John Demsey, group president of the Estée Lauder Cos. Inc. “It’s about living fashion every day. Fashion week has always been an important part of MAC’s DNA even back when fashion week was basically a trade show and these new initiatives help show why.”

The brand will kick off New York Fashion Week on Sept. 6 with a Fashion’s Night Out performance by hip-hop artist Azealia Banks at the brand’s MAC Cosmetics SoHo store. DJ Cosmo, Banks’ favorite DJ, will be on hand to spin tracks at the store as well. Banks is also creating a limited-edition lipstick, Yung Rapunxel a deep blackened purple for the brand. Retailing for $15, it will be sold in all New York City MAC stores beginning Sept. 6 (it hits maccosmetics.com from Sept. 5) through Sept. 20.

On Sept. 5, the brand will sponsor a book party for Mauricio and Roger Padilha’s new book “Antonio: Fashion, Art, Sex and Disco,” which celebrates the work of the late fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez. Cabaret singer and drag artist Joey Arias will perform at the gathering.

As well, MAC will host a private party on Sept. 8 for Carine Roitfeld’s new magazine, CR, and Roitfeld’s 23-piece color cosmetics collection for MAC, which hits U.S. counters Sept. 6 and international doors in October. On Oct. 2, MAC and Roitfeld will hold a similarly lavish party in Paris to celebrate both entities. The brand is also backing André Leon Talley’s “Little Black Dress” exhibit, which will open in October at the Savannah College of Art and Design. The brand is creating a supplement to the exhibit catalogue that features beauty looks.

MAC will sponsor nails in New York, London, Paris and Milan, noted Demsey, and for the seventh consecutive season will be the official cosmetics sponsor of Made, the fashion shows held each season at Milk Studios. MAC will do backstage for 20 Made shows and roughly 80 overall over the course of New York Fashion Week. Globally, the brand averages 840 fashion shows in 23 fashion weeks each year.

As has happened in many past seasons, MAC will test-drive a number of product prototypes backstage, said Demsey. Those slated for the shows in September and October include a new moisturizing lipstick, a brow gel and pencil, new moisturizers and palettes of what MAC artists are projecting as the season’s hottest lip and eye shades, Demsey noted. “Our artists backstage are using products sometimes years before they are launched to the public,” said Demsey. “It’s a real-world test. If there are tweaks needed — particularly with the texture, color, application and finish the team lets the product development team know.”

Subscribers to MAC’s Tumblr account, maccosmetics.tumblr.com, will be able to view exclusive beauty visuals and backstage videos which will be updated daily from New York, London, Milan and Paris, said Demsey. On Facebook and YouTube, subscribers will be able to view profiles of makeup artists, which are intended to give a first-hand look at the realities of being a backstage artist. “We are continuing to delve even more deeply into social media this season,” said Demsey. “Our artists will be backstage tweeting continuously in 10 different languages from the shows about trends, forecasts and fashion. We’ll be making our followers  more than 100,000 on Tumblr, 3.6 million on Facebook and 80,000 on Twitter feel like they are right there through an extensive media platform. Fashion week is a major driver for us in the success of
these platforms.”

On Wednesday Aug 8th, I attended the Skaist Taylor Preview Party for their new Fall collection held at the Neiman Marcus in  Bal Harbour Florida.

This was an excellent event, just before the Fashion show began, SocialMiami.com’s fashion contributor, Elysze Held conducted a brief and entertaining question and answer session with Gela Nash Taylor and Pamela Skaist- Levy, the founders of Juicy Couture and designers of Skaist Taylor.

As if this spectacular fashion show was not enough, complimentary makeovers were also provided by Estee Lauder and Le Metier; mini manicures featuring Chanel’s fall color palette were provided by Midtown Miami’s Nail Bar  and cocktails were served courtesy of Chambord.

Here’s a sneak peak of the event:

Skaist Taylor Preview Fall 2012

Skaist Taylor Preview Fall 2012

(from left to right) Casting Director Claudia Jean, Skaist Taylor Model Serlena Breed, (myself), Manager of Jimmy Choo (Merrick Park) Evelyn Almonte)

Of course I had to grab a pic with one of my favorite fashion bloggers Niani Tolbert of The Fierce Fantasy

Model Serlena Breed worked the runway!!!

Now time for the ASMI outfit details! I knew for this event I wanted a simple but elegant look so I grabbed one of my ASMI fitted pencil dresses but it needed something extra to finish it and just a couple nights prior I  made a neck piece and the two worked well together!!

Here is the process broken down in one shot:

Jourdan Dunn made her runway debut in the New York shows in the fall of 2007, walking in shows for Marc Jacobs and Polo Ralph Lauren. She has modelled for Burberry, Calvin Klein, Yves Saint Laurent, Prada, Victoria's Secret, Topshop, Jaeger, Gap, Shiatzy Chen, Benetton, H&M, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue. She's been in Vogue, Elle, i-D, among other magazines.

Jourdan Dunn
British Model
Age 22
Star Sign- Leo

She is currently ranked 15th on the Top 50 Models Women.