My scene girl fashion game

BEAUTY DIRECTOR MIKKI TAYLOR REFLECTS ON SADE'S TIMELESS STYLE

When I first heard that a new release from Sade was on the horizon, I was totally psyched--and not only about the music. Sade, who took her place in my mind a long time ago as one of the savviest style mavens, was about to serve us again with some fascinating degree of chic, and I couldn't wait to see what it would be like this time around. Her conscious choice, at the height of her career, to step off the scene left us all breathlessly waiting for her reappearance. We clung to the notion of Diamond Life and a love for that simple style that made hoops and pulled-back hair the sexiest thing going.

When Lovers Rock finally hit the stores, I did a double take. Like a quick "then and now" (as shown on our covers), Sade had simply improved on Sade--no Madonna-like transformations, no image overhaul (which for many celebs often becomes a "tripping point," if you know what I mean) and certainly no surgical styling. Much to my amusement, Sade was still Sade--the queen of effortless chic, a woman bent on keeping it simple and easy. Her trademarks--the "next to naked" skin flecked with freckles, diva-red lips, shaped-to-perfection dark brows and statement-making ponytail--had received only a deliberate tweaking. Like her music, this was an anatomy of an attitude that conveyed a certain confidence, one that said, "It's simply a faux pas to seem as though you've tried too hard." And you know what? I love her for it. I also love the fact that her signature style, which we highlight this month on our dual covers, mirrors the season's trends so closely that it could have strutted right off the spring 2001 catwalks.

Now that, my sisters, is what timeless style is all about. It's about finding those elements that communicate who you are to the world--be it the signature sweep of liner, the distinctive shape of a brow or that cool do with an evolving power that never falls short--and knowing that, if you choose them wisely, you will always be in style.

It's a philosophy anyone can master. I became hip to the secret awhile ago. Like many of us, I'm a working girl trying to manage the demands of marriage, motherhood and an incredible career that requires me to always be on top of my game. That said, it didn't take long for me to learn that following each trendy flight of fancy just didn't jibe with my multitasking lifestyle. So I had to simplify--extract the parts of my beauty and fashion routines that were too time-consuming or cumbersome and create a look I could turn out on a dime.

That's not to say I support the cookie-cutter concept. It's not about getting stuck in a rut or following one plan so rigidly that the world skates on but your look stays frozen in time. It's about having a framework--and knowing how and when to finesse it. Sade's look today is simply a more refined version of her eighties style: The brows have taken on an updated shape, the lips are stained instead of painted, the hair is still off the face but falls back into naturally wavy, carefree cuds. And without a doubt, it clicks.

Over the years, I've done some fine-tuning of my own. I'm never without Maybelline's Expert Eyes Brow and Eve Liner in Dark Brown--despite the tweaking of the shape of my brows--or a base that allows my skin to still be present. Neither am I at a loss for some kind of twist on a sleek do, because from start to finish, I refuse to fuss for a look or to compromise anything when it comes to style. Without a doubt, I've gotten it down to a science, and that suits me just fine. I love the fact that when I walk out the door in the morning, no matter where I am in the world, I don't have to think about it--I'm on point. What is it that they say? If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

COPYRIGHT 2001 Essence Communications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group