Amanda Steele Becomes First Digital Creator To Oversee Makeup At A Fashion Week Show

Seventeen-year-old YouTube beauty guru Amanda Steele, who earlier this year signed with WME and IMG Models, has just ticked off another first-ever accomplishment for Team Internet. This New York Fashion Week, which is taking place this week, Steele became the first digital entertainer to lead makeup for one of the runway shows, according to New York magazine.

Steele served as co-key at the Rebecca Minkoff show yesterday alongside Gato, a Spanish makeup artist at Maybelline — the major mass brand for which Steele also serves as brand ambassador. The two worked together to devise the look, which seems to have included a smoky eye, and also selected the products used to achieve it. Steele and Gato also made the rounds to approve the work of other artists on the team, according to New York.

And influencers weren’t just behind the scenes at Minkoff’s show. The designer invited a handful of bloggers to walk the runway, including Arielle Charnas, Chriselle Lim, Gala Gonzalez, Shea Marie, and Caroline Vreeland, according to Refinery29.

While Steele, who counts nearly 3 million subscribers on her flagship MakeupByMandy24 YouTube channel, is the first online star to helm a makeup look for Fashion Week, she was preceded to a certain extent by fellow beauty guru Michelle Phan, who served on the makeup team for the Michael Kors and Chris Benz shows in 2010, according to New York. However, while Phan was executing the looks, Steele was responsible for conceiving them — which illuminates the growing role for influencers in today’s beauty and fashion industries.