Report From Fashion Week: New Hair Trends
If you want a head start on fall’s new hair trends, don’t touch the scissors. Judging from the looks shown at the recent New York designer fashion shows, long, sleek and bountiful hair is back.
New Hair Trend No. 1: Neat and on the Side
One of fall’s most important accessories will be a streaming, shiny ponytail, so start growing your hair now. The look is a continuation of the current spring hair trend for long braids, often worn to one side.
Ponytails were assembled from naturally long hair, color-matched extensions or a terrace of layers. The tried-and-true staple is one of the easiest hairstyles to copy from the New York runways.
Long, shimmery ponytails make way for big statements above the neck, including fur collars, thick neck scarves and hats of every variety. With fall’s must-have low side part (a look that already jumped from the runway to the red carpet, with Sandra Bullock and Kate Winslet showing it off at this year’s Oscars), generous ponytails took a sporty turn at DKNY and Lacoste.
Get this look: Apply a mist of frizz-taming serum and blow-dry hair super-straight. Part the hair in the center or extra-low on one side, and secure with an inconspicuous elastic band. For extra-sleek locks, smooth hair sections with a flatiron after drying.
New Hair Trend No. 2: The Pouf
“In fall and winter, you often see off-the-face hair, because there are more collars, high necks, scarves and hoods, so sometimes hair gets in the way,” says celebrity stylist Sam McKnight, who brought modern glamour to many runway shows with new hair trends, including those for Chanel, Mulberry, Prada, Vivienne Westwood and Fendi. McKnight is also responsible for creating the images of Naomi Campbell, Gisele Bundchen and Uma Thurman.
For Mulberry, a British luxury collection that showed in New York, McKnight piled hair into a slightly messy but still compact bouffant, a look that requires lots of back-combing and hair spray. Messy, mini-bouffants also decorated the heads at Vera Wang and Lela Rose.
Get this look: Back-comb just the sections of hair around the crown, gather into a mini-bouffant and secure with pins to preserve volume. Sections of hair left loose, especially around the face, make the look modern.
New Hair Trend No. 3: Shiny and Pretty
To complement the modified menswear silhouettes, hair was styled in a slicked-down sheen. Skip the greasy stuff and use a very fine bristled brush with a weightless oil or spray to give hair a glossy finish, says New York stylist Sam Brocato, who created the shiny, wavy ponytails for newcomer Nima’s presentation.
Get this look: Rub a few drops of light hair oil or smoothing balm into palms, and run hands lightly down the midshaft and ends of hair. Work into hair with a fine, natural-bristle brush. For curls, use a large-barrel curling iron and wind small sections of hair along the barrel. Pull hair to one side and toward the front and secure with an elastic band. Tame flyaways with a light-hold hair spray.
New Hair Trend No. 4: Undone Buns
Strands and ends are now purposely left untucked with fall’s new hair trend, the chignon . Models at Yigal Azrouel wore buns loose with the new low side part. Designer Jason Wu, who created Michelle Obama’s inaugural gown, instructed stylist Odile Gilbert to give his chignons an effortless quality for a look he called “untamed hair on a grown-up girl.”
Get this look: To pull off the hair trend, create a low, loose ponytail with the front sides pulled slightly out of the elastic band to create volume. Wrap the ponytail with a 10-inch elastic band or thin, stretchy headband, and pin into a coil at the nape of the neck.
New Hair Trend No. 5: Flowing Waves
Diane von Furstenberg’s models sported chunks of waves that looked like seawater-drenched layers left to air-dry. Long, wavy ribbons of hair that flow across the shoulder were key looks with several designers, including Ports 1961, where big curls looked like a good ’80s perm.
Get this look: Brocato calls the new hair trend with curls “edgy texture,” partly because few locks adhere to a regular pattern. Instead, ends are smooth and uncurled while the midshaft is curled or bent, usually with a curling iron held at mixed-up angles, he says. Alternatively, McKnight gets the look by spraying a light coat of hair spray before creating one or several thick braids. Run a hot flatiron down the braid to set the bend; unbraid and spray to hold the curl.
No matter what the hairstyle -- ponytails, waves and chignons alike -- always finish with a final mist of hair spray: It’s essential to keep these new hair trends frizz-free and as polished as fall’s new clothes.
