For an inside look at the pre-show collaboration between a designer and a makeup artist, Bobbi Brown let this reporter tag along with her when she headed over to Halston this week to put together the makeup for the Wednesday morning show.

Arriving with a small entourage and rolling suitcase of her cosmetic goodies, Brown sets up shop in a large conference room, lined with Halston's fall collection. Designer Craig Natiello's creations for spring, of course, are tightly under wraps.

Brown is sitting cross-legged on a chair, awaiting her canvas, when the model, a statuesque beauty named Jo Jo, arrives. Brown tells her she looks like a young Meryl Streep. "I get that a lot," Jo Jo smiles. "Julianne Moore too." Brown nods in agreement, "Yup, if Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore got together ... that would be you."

The ice is broken and the room prepares for Brown to work her magic. Her inspiration? A few scribbled notes from Natiello's desktop scratch pad and a torn-out picture photographed by Patrick Demarchelier from a recent issue of Harper's Bazaar. The rest of us are puzzled, but the makeup maestro seems satisfied and sets to work.

While her colleague Curtis Phelps takes off Jo Jo's existing makeup, Brown readies her arsenal of foundations, shadows, mascaras and glosses. When Natiello arrives on the scene to shed some light on his vision, we're all grateful: turns out, even with our group effort, we had misinterpreted one of his scrawlings.

Like a veteran surgeon, Brown keeps up with the conversation in the room, as she requests tools from Phelps. "Concealer, brush, tube mascara." Every product she uses is noted by her assistant, so it will be on hand in mass quantities at the show. Brown will have eight other makeup artists backstage with her bright and early on Wednesday.

Within 20 minutes, Jo Jo has been transformed into Natiello's vision, though Brown takes no credit: "If you book all the girls as pretty as she is, I'll have no problem."

Before the group breaks, Brown and Natiello decide on polish for the fingers and toes. The session appears to be wrapping up when the designer has one more flash of inspiration. "The goody bags!" Why not use one of the Bobbi Brown products that are being included in the gift packs? A Halston-ite scurries off, returning with one of the line's signature black pots. Brown dabs and blends the color, and the look is finally complete.

Now you just have to stay tuned until next week, when we'll reveal the top-secret details of this mystery look ...