Creative licence
With the age of undone tresses behind us, a sprinkle of spectacle settled over the spring/summer ’20 collections. By Remy Rippon.
CREATIVE LICENCE
With the age of undone tresses behind us, a sprinkle of spectacle settled over the spring/summer ’20 collection shows.
FRESH START
If hairstylists this season taught us anything, it’s that even the most enduring hairstyles can be spun in a fresh new way. Case in point: the humble ballerina bun, which showed up at a handful of shows, including Emilia Wickstead and Elie Saab, was teamed with imaginative twists and experimental heights.
“I wanted to make something really graphic and strong so it had a lot of 90s influence to it,” noted Jon Reyman, who created the slicked back buns that sat atop models heads at Marta Jakubowski. “We had a tight bun and made the rest straight and shiny.” Full-blown shine was also the reason the low and sleek ponytails at Proenza Schouler and Christopher Kane felt new, while among the various styles at Chanel – some centre-parted, smooth, poker-straight – was a modern take on a timeless style. For 24-hour hold, start with day-two tresses (freshly washed hair lacks the required grip) secured in a ponytail, before snailing it around the elastic and securing with bobby pins. Finish with a generous dose of hairspray to keep flyaways at bay.
A TOUCH OF THEATRE
“It’s just pure theatre, isn’t it? It transports you to another place and lets you dream,” said Eugene Souleiman of the MarieAntoinette-inspired conical creation that vied for attention at Thom Browne. This season, hairstylists from New York to Paris paid tribute to centuries past with experimental styles that stepped back in time. At Vivienne Westwood, legendary hairstylist Sam McKnight referenced the bygone era with tightly wound cylindrical curls – not unlike a judicial wig – adding a touch of regalia to an otherwise textbook ponytail. “The rolls are done with their own hair – a slightly anarchic version of 18thcentury hair,” said McKnight backstage.
NATURAL WONDER
Even when hair ventured into familiar undone territory, it came with a powerful message. New York-based designer Gabriela Hearst declared her show carbonneutral, which meant hairstylists sought out inventive creations in lieu of their trusty electric tools. “She asked us not to use electricity, so we used a type of gel to hold the hair straight back and into a loose ponytail and then into a rope braid which loops back up on itself … and a piece of leather as the final detail,” chief stylist James Pecis told reporters backstage. McKnight followed a similar ethos at Ralph & Russo with a style he likened to bedhead, requiring only water, dry shampoo and texturiser. Meanwhile at Fendi, models’ own natural texture informed the look. “Every girl’s hair was different, so we asked each model how she would quickly pin up her own hair and did a version of that,” notes McKnight.
NEW ATTITUDE
From Tom Ford to Simone Rocha and Sacai to Haider Ackermann, hairstylists across the board found new inspiration in a familiar punk attitude. At Marques’Almeida, Pecis backcombed the hair before straightening it then loading up on hairspray for added unruliness. Elsewhere it was more deliberate. At Tom Ford, bird’s nest mohawks were made all the more dramatic by Ford’s characteristically intense smokyeye, while Haider Ackermann’s soft-punk interpretation was cropped, slicked and married with intense brushed-up brows.
TWISTS AND TURNS
If there was ever a time to become reacquainted with your curling tong, it’s now. The message hairstylists were sending this season was clear: embrace your curls, and if you weren’t blessed with luscious waves or ringlets, create them. It’s what Pecis did at Richard Quinn: no matter what the natural texture, each model was given a full head of corkscrew curls. “The curls here are kind of 70s Yves Saint Laurent – like a fun, playful vibe to it,” he explained. At Miu Miu and Marc Jacobs it was a similar story, with curls running the gamut from tightly spun to Victorian-era finger waves, both achieved by simply changing up the barrel size of the curling wand to suit the desired hold.