Dior hosts Winter 2016 preview

Nadine Kam photos
This dress was one of several modeled by Daniella Abe during a preview trunk show of Dior's Winter 2016 ready-to-wear collection. Styles are slated to begin arriving in stores next month.

I love the romance evident in fall's designs, and Dior delivers on the handworked, vintage-y vibe of the season. The boutique at T Galleria hosted a preview of its Winter 2016 collection on Aug. 15.

On view were ready-to-wear dresses in plush velvets and soft knits, with many pieces embellished with beads and paillettes in an ornate style I associate with 1950s Chinese brocades.

Also on the floor are early 1900s and menswear-inspired shoes, fabulous eyewear that shoppers just couldn't put down, and combat boots with bling that have people stomping their way all over Paris.

Footwear also was cued by the past, with high-vamp lace-up styles and color cues from menswear. But stiletto heels are purely femme.

Carrying over from summer, a limited number of Dior X Rihanna collaboration sunglasses are available at the boutique now, at about $840.

Here's a video link with Rihanna in the sunglasses: dior.com

A bodice of velvet florals softens winter's black eveningwear.

Beauty trends at Macy's

 Nadine Kam photos
Joy Ramos, left, was the mannequin for the day as nine beauty brands worked their magic on her bare skin, from a foundation of skin care, to brows, lashes and full color look, during Macy's Ala Moana's inaugural Beauty Trend Show. Here, she's in the chair with representatives from Lancome.

Macy's hosted it's first Beauty Trend Event July 16 at the Ala Moana Center store, highlighted by something I haven't seen done here before, a start-to-finish makeover, from skin care to color, featuring several beauty brands.

It had to be hard to determine who would do what. Typically, each brand would perform a makeover using all of its own products, but that's not realistic.

I think even the most loyal customers pick and choose the best from each product line, and very few match their skin care to their choice of color brands.

Among skincare products highlighted were:
Clinique City Block Purifying Charcoal Cleansing Gel
SKII Facial Treatment Essence
Clarins Double Serum
Chanl Le Blanc Intensive Spot Treatment and Hydra Flash Balm
Shisedo Ibuki Beauty Sleeping Mask and Ibuki Quick Fix Mist
Origins Plantscription line

Color products featured:
Lancome Le Base Pro and Le Lipstick in "Clear"
Estée Lauder Nude Cushion Stick Double Wear Foundation
Benefit Browvo and Kabrow brow tamers
M.A.C Dazzle Eyes shadow
Urban Decay Vice Lips and makeup setting spray
Bobbi Brown Sunset Pink Collection

I stopped by the Benefit Brow Bar after the show, where nine brow-perfecting products are the most offered by any other brand on the beauty floor.

Beauty spot: Tata Harper shows natural beauty can be effective

Nadine Kam photos
Tata Harper was in town to host a skin-care master class featuring her all-natural line of beauty products.

Beauty expert Tata Harper has been in Hawaii celebrating her birthday, and made a trip to Neiman Marcus July 30 to host a skin-care master class, utilizing the all-natural products handmade on her Vermont farm.

I was running a bit late that morning, but still managed to put a face on, only to find we were starting the session with a good face cleansing. We began with Tata Harper's Nourishing Oil Cleanser, that went on silky smooth and washed off easily with a damp sponge, taking my makeup job with it. To familiarize ourselves with the products, we were also able to try her exfoliating Regenerating Cleanser, detox-oriented Purifying Cleanser, and for sensitive skin and rosacea, Refreshing Cleanser.

There's an idea that's hard to shake, that "natural" cannot be as effective as industrialized ingredients. One of my friends once said that in the war against wrinkles, "Give me chemicals." But in my experience, Tata Harper's products are much more effective than most brands I've tried, that take a more traditional approach to creating skincare products.

A display highlighted the fresh fruit, botanicals and herbs that go into Tata Harper Skincare.

I've interviewed Harper many times, and her origin story is that she began questioning the many household and beauty chemicals we use every day after her father-in-law became sick from cancer. What she learned horrified her, because many of the ingredients used in beauty products are also used in automotive and industrial products. "How can that be beautifying?" she asks, and started studying and learning, changing her family's lifestyle in the process, so that her father-in-law became a cancer survivor.

In speaking to industry chemists, she also learned that, for marketing purposes, most beauty products utilize only one or two active ingredients, whether hyularonic acid or vitamin C. Beyond that ingredient that sells the product, the rest is filler.