I always love a good behind the scenes look at what other hair and makeup artists do for red carpet events and photo shoots, so I couldn’t pass up the chance to share these snippets from Into The Gloss of Michelle Dockery (aka Lady Mary from Downton Abbey) getting ready for the SAG Awards.
Though I am a huge… make that galactic fan of Ralph Rucci, Michelle didn’t land on my top 5 list of best dressed this year… but in the hair and makeup department she was a winner for sure.
Something about creamy, pale and perfect skin highlighted by a dramatic eye and matte lip… and that bob.. delightful.
Take a peek at hairstylist Mara Roszack tips and photos from her time prepping Michelle for the SAG Awards.
The dress is from the ’90s, Micaela said; it’s kind of a recent vintage piece. As opposed to the more classic look we did for the Globes, we wanted to do something different for the SAGs—make a statement, but still sultry, and a little bit more edgy. I would say it’s that kind of cool, ’90s vibe.
Michelle already had this new bob haircut that’s kind of ’90s—ugh, I think that ’90s bob is so awesome! So, I pulled images of other chops of a similar shape [photo 5], and pictures of Winona, other models and actresses from that era, and brought those to discuss with her, and then we, as a group, came up with a slightly sleeker, more structured feel.
The first thing I did was part her hair. I wanted the part to be really, really clean—super straight—because the dress has really straight lines. Then, I blew it dry off her face, on the side that we knew we were going to tuck back behind her ear. On the opposite side, I pin-curled the hair to give it some volume and texture and movement, let that set for a couple of minutes, sprayed it lightly with Moroccan Oil Hairspray, which is a light-hold hairspray. Then I went back in and used a couple of hot rollers, and replaced the pin curls with those. On the other side, I added a little bit of texture with more hairspray—and used the tiniest bit of gel on my finger, just running it over the top layer of hair to smooth down any flyaways. Michelle has amazing hair; it really does what you want it to do.
In terms of the makeup, it was all Chanel products. Jordan [Bree Long], the makeup artist, used a dark shadow and a sort of dabbed-on wine lip. On her eyes, it was a deep green from the Lilium 32 Les 4 Ombres Quad and a matte black from the Ombres Contraste Duo in 10 Gris-Subtil. The lipstick was Rouge Allure Velvet in 41 L’Exquise, smudged on, like a tint. We didn’t want anything too overly dreamy. The dress was all about having structure, but not too hard, and modern, for sure.”
Images courtesy of Mara Roszak. Michelle’s dress is vintage Chado Ralph Rucci; bag and jewelry by Bulgari.
