Fall 2012 Fashion Week Hair Trends: We See London, Await France…

Burberry Prorsum

The fashion industry is enough to turn your head right around: Spring fashions are shown in September of the previous Fall; Fall fashions in February and March of the same year. 

Very.Co.Uk

So, while your current stack of glossy magazines are showing the warm-weather clothes and beauty trends that strutted down the Spring 2012 catwalks in 2011 -- full of clothing colors from breezy pastels to neons; styles preppy and safari to ethnic and edgy; red lips from matte to gloss, from brow/red to sheerest vermillion;  rosebud lips; cat’s eyes, smoky eyes, white/silver metallic shadow, deep-toned glitters, or brilliant pops of eye shadow; flushed cheeks; and heavy darker brows; hair with pastel streaks and dip-dyed tips, slicked back ponytails, embellished up-dos, and sleek center parts --  New York, London, and Milan just wrapped up their respective Fall 2012 Fashion Weeks, and Paris Fashion Week is coming to a close. 

Ossie Clark

LONDON: The watchword for hair at London’s Fall Fashion Week, with the usual notable exceptions, was touchability, natural texture, and shine, embodied beautifully at Burberry Prorsum. The overall motif in London for the upcoming Fall is looks you could achieve yourself – or that at least look as if you could. 

Vivienne Westwood

These are hairstyles that are wearble and commercial; the colors look healthy, natural, highly reflective, and are very European, lacking the usual American overabundance of highlights. This is hair that just begs to be touched (Very.co.uk, Ossie Clark, Burberry). 

Alexander McQueen

Of course, it wouldn’t be London without Vivienne Westwood’s and Alexander McQueen’s outrageous designs – and for that you will require quite a bit of assistance. 

Bora Asku

What we really noticed is that, overall, the makeup for Fall is much more mannered than the hair – and that’s sexy (Bora Asku, House of Holland). 

House of Holland

Luella

Issa

Paul Costelloe

And I am personally pleased to see so many variations of pink lipstick on the London runway, from a just-bitten rose to a vibrant fuchsia (Luella, Issa, Paul Costelloe). That’s sexy, too!  

Normaluisa

Gianfranco Ferre

MILAN: In Milan, it was a season of extremes. It was all about making a statement, and that statement was “look at me” – but my, how the approach differed! In one camp, we had the “look at me because I am molto bella,” and the other “look at me because I am piuttosto brutta.” 

Blumarine

DSquared2

It’s really a choice of what kind of attention you prefer: Do you want to be on the receiving end of stares and glances because you look casual, pretty, and the best you can possibly look (like the models at Normaluisa, Gianfranco Ferre, Blumarine, and DSquared2)?

Or are you ready for attention no matter what form it comes in?

Prada

Fendi

Even if that attention is more from a place attraction/repulsion, of wanting any attention at all whether it is positive or negative (like them models at Prada and Fendi – both the makeup and the hair are not going to win fans, and to a certain extent at Gucci and Marni – the makeup at Gucci will win fans even though the hair is lackluster; the hair at Marni will have its fans even if the makeup is so absent the models look recently released from hospital)?  

Gucci

Marni

NEW YORK: Call us biased – at least until we’ve had a chance to review the whole of Paris Fashion Week to weight against it – but New York had the most consistent combination of wearable, touchable, attractive hair AND makeup. 

Ann Yee

Carolina Herrera

Granted, the braided up-do at Ann Yee is something I was doing back in the Seventies and early Eighties, the nouveaux bouffant at Carolina Herrera sees a renaissance every decade or so, and the backcombed faux bob-and-headband combination at Oscar de la Renta was refreshingly disheveled. 

Oscar de la Renta

But the fact is everything eventually comes back around, and we just reinterpret it and reinvent it, improving upon the previous versions with better styling products and less-damaging styling tools.

Cynthia Rowley

Now, how about the hairstyles at Cynthia Rowley and Creatures of the Wind? 

We were a bit shocked at Cynthia Rowley’s wild mass of almost-dreadlocks and ringlets haphazardly pinned to the back of the models’ heads, as she is not known for her wildly avante garde design sensibility. 

Creatures of the Wind

And Creatures of the Wind: Would the models | Be aware | If anything were to move in there? | What kind of creature might come out of there? | Would YOU dare? (with our thanks to the late Dr. Seuss).

Tory Burch

We saw up-dos at Tory Burch (feminine, wearable, and sexily imperfect), Derek Lam (very do-it-yourself looking, lunchtime-tryst-and- rushing-back-to-work – also sexy), and Preen (caught in a high wind?). 

Derek Lam

Preen

The faux bob from Rodarte with unwieldy metallic embellishment camouflages the best parts of that style as effectively as the headband accentuates what is essentially the same style on the Oscar de la Renta model – a perfect example of how execution can make or break a look. 

Rodarte

Rag & Bone

The long, waving textured locks at Rag & Bone, Diane von Furstenberg, Rachel Zoe, and DKNY are alive and sexy.

Diane von Furstenberg

Rachel Zoe

And even though stylist Eugene Soulieman pulled the hair into a low side ponytail at DKNY, we never thought to lump it together with the highly controlled, pin-straight, high-crowned ponytail from Jason Wu. The only thing the two styles have in common is the elastic band.

DKNY

Sometimes runways shows are not the easiest places to find flattering hair and makeup (or clothing, come to think of it). Haute couture and pret-a-porter fashion shows are very much about fashion designers competing with one another, showing off their design and technical skills, trying to break new ground, looking to be shocking, hoping to differentiate themselves from the hundreds of other hopefuls and become a household name. 

Jason Wu

What often gets lost twice a year is the women who are going to buy the clothes and make their careers a success. Designers so easily get caught up finding the perfect hanger for their designs that they court mannequins who don’t look like real women, and some get caught up in the shock value of exaggerated or even slightly grotesque features, making those women their “muses.” And sometimes women get caught up in being on the cutting edge of the trends, in becoming the patron or the muse of a designer, or of buying into a designer’s aesthetic without regard for whether it is flattering, brings out the best in their looks or figure, is cut for their body type, or is a hairstyle, haircolor, and a makeup palette that flatters their unique coloring, ethnicity, age, and features. Women are encouraged to run from one trend to the next without thought for whether it is right for them , only that it is the latest, newest, and she’ll be the first.

And ladies, as a professional, master haircolorist and stylist for over 40 years, and as a man, I am here to tell you that the latest/newest/first does not matter to us AT ALL. It matters that you look sexy, beautiful, confident, and happy. And that may not entail dyeing your hair aubergine and cutting it in the graduated bob Victoria Beckham wore when she moved to L.A., or growing you hair below your shoulders, cutting in disconnected layers, and trying an ombred or dip-dyed look that is best left to your granddaughter.

               

Until next week, ciao!

2011 Hair Trends: Color, Braids, Bangs, Bobs, and Bling!

Candy-Colored Hair: Dianna, Katy and Kate

As 2011 comes to a close, we take a look back at some of the most popular hair trends, and the celebrities who sported them for all the world to see. While the rest of us went quietly about our lives with the same cuts and colors, we didn’t have to dodge the paparazzi, and for that we can all be thankful!

  

Candy-Colored Hair: Or, if we’re honest about most of what we saw, we’ll just call it Kool Aid-colored hair instead! On the whole, it simply was NOT appealing, as proven by Dianna Agron and Kate Bosworth, who both looked as if they waited until their parents weren’t home and dip-dyed their hair in Kool Aid. It just doesn’t look appealing. If you want to do something like this, you need a professional, not a home dye job. Look at the difference between Katy Perry and the other two. She may be wearing a funky haircolor, but it looks professionally done, healthy, and well-colored. Check out our blog post from November 10, “Bobbing for Color.” THAT’S what playing around with funky colors should look like!

Temporarily Red: Blake, Drew, and Scarlett

Seeing Red: This year, we saw requests to “go red” surpass those to “become a blonde.” It’s a tough, demanding haircolor, but if you’re thinking about becoming a redhead, now is most definitely the time. But it cannot be stressed enough that a change like this really must be done professionally. There are so many shades of red -- cool reds, hot reds, warm reds, red-reds, which you can see just by looking at Blake Lively, Drew Barrymore and Scarlett Johansson – that you need an expert to choose the right shade for your skin tone. And because red haircolor is most prone to fading, a professional will do a “double dip” to make your new color last longer, as well as recommend the best products to extend the life of your new red-hot look. 

On Top: Gwen, Reese, and Jennifer

Topknots: It is refreshing to see a clean, classical look like the ballerina topknot come back into style, but with a bit of a twist on each celebrity’s version. We especially liked Gwen Stefani’s, with that edge of messiness to soften its perfection. Those strands falling around her face are sexy, just like she is, and just go to show how really casual and do-able the topknot actually is. Reese Witherspoon’s is very neat and the most formal, and Jennifer Lopez’s has just a little bit of imperfection, and they all work perfectly. 

Let's Be Blunt: Rose, Nicole, and Sandra

Blunt Bangs: Blunt bangs can be a very attractive and dramatic (think of Anjelica Huston or early Cher) signature look, but you have to really want them and prepared to live with them, for they can also be very severe. In earlier blog posts, we commented that we didn’t like them at all on Rose Byrne, whose delicate face was overpowered by such a heavy fringe. When Sandra Bullock surprised celebrity watchers by showing up with them at an awards show earlier in the year, opinions were mixed, but she has much stronger featured and a longer face to balance them out. Nicole Ritchie wears them most successfully here, because hers are not really as blunt. They’re cut at a graduated angle, have some wispiness to them, and don’t overpower her face.

Braided Ladies: Shakira, Nina, and Stacy

Braids: Braids are back in, but they’re not as neat and clean – like Nina Dobrev’s or Stacy Keibler’s – today as they were in earlier trends. Even Shakira’s is rather neat. Lately it’s fishtail braids and messy, homemade-looking braids that were all over the runways this year. The irony is that there is a method to making a good, casually controlled, slightly messy braid, and it takes a hairstylist to do it.

Ladies Who Lob: Julianne, Emily, and Brooklyn

Long Bobs: May we refer you our December 16 blog post, “Which Lob Do You Love?” Both Emily Blunt and Brooklyn Decker were featured, and Julianne Hough was cut for space, but not for her great cut.

Hair “Bling”: Hair jewelry, hair accessories, and then there’s always the fascinators! These jeweled hair accessories are a way to add glamour to a look without resorting to the usual necklace/earrings pairing. 

Hair Jewels: Kate, Jessica, and Emma

In fact, you’ll notice that Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba, and Emma Stone have all foregone necklaces, and if they are wearing earrings, they are small or very delicate. In the case of Kate and Jessica, both pregnant at the time, it allowed them to spotlight a glowing décolleté in a strapless gown. In spite of the jewels involved, all of this “hair bling” has a slightly Bohemian feeling that juxtaposes beautifully with their formal gowns.

It has been a wonderful year in fashion and beauty (mostly good, and some trends we hope will expire at midnight on December 31^st), and we expect nothing less for 2012! Have a safe and happy New Year, and we’ll be back next week. Until then, ciao!