HAIR
With breezy waves, unfussy braids, and lower-than-low ponytails, the spring runways were all about natural, undone hair. It was roughed up, not too perfect, and still crazy-pretty. Better yet, the styles are so simple that they won't drive you crazy when you attempt them yourself. Here, a few looks for spring 2013.
MESSY BRAIDS
"It's not polished and it's not glamorous," McKnight said of the sporty braid at Balmain. He got the look by roughly drying the hair and spraying it with Pantene Pro-V Classic Style Hairspray. He braided the hair and secured it with a thick black elastic, then added a second elastic at the base of the neck. To make the hair look "lived in," he pulled out random sections around the ears.
NATURAL WAVES
J. Mendel makes elegant dress-up clothes, but the hair this season was relaxed and unfussy. "They're not barrel curls," hairstylist Orlando Pita said of the "flat and natural-looking" waves he gave the models. He parted the hair down the middle, smoothed the front section with Phyto Professional Workable Holding Spray, and then pushed the hair behind the ears. Starting just under the ears, he ran a flatiron over one-inch sections of hair, rotating it both toward and away from the head to create soft waves. He tamed frizz with Phyto 7 Daily Hydrating Botanical Cream.
SICILIAN TWISTS
"It's about the scarf," Guido said of the hair at Dolce & Gabbana, "like how a woman would just pin her hair up [and] put a scarf on." He began by applying Redken Aerate 08 Bodifying Cream-Mousse to the hair and blow-drying it straight back, removing any hint of a part. He placed the scarf around the head about an inch from the hairline and tied it off-center at the nape of the neck, letting the ends skim the shoulders. He rolled the hair up as if he was going to do a French twist, instead folding the ends under to form a loop, and fanned the hair out on top of the head. "There's a little indication of the '60s. [There is] a little Riviera feeling," he said.
ROUGHED-UP TEXTURE
To create a tousled, sexy texture at Lanvin, Guido misted the hair with water then roughly blow-dried it. He sprayed the roots withRedken Quick Tease 15,made a deep side part, and teased the thicker half with a Mason Pearson hairbrush. He pushed the hair behind the ears and finished by blasting just the front with hair spray.
ULTRALOW PONYTAILS
To complement the scarves in the Rochas collection, hairstylist Eugene Souleiman decided on superlow ponytails. He parted the hair down the center, misted it with Wella Professionals Ocean Spritz Beach Texture Hairspray, and blow-dried it straight with a round brush. To lock in the "supernaturally straight" style, he then flatironed it. He pulled the hair into a very loose ponytail, letting the top portion of the ponytail fan out so that the hair looked like it had been cut into a bob from the front. "My favorite thing about it is that it's one of those looks that's so normal, it's really abnormal," Souleiman said.
NAILS
Contrast was the name of the game when it came to nails at the New York shows. Looks ranged from light and innocent to dark and dangerously chic this season. We saw pretty swan white polishes, barely-there French manicures and buff looks juxtaposed with black vamp shades, medieval “cage” inspired designs and the most breathtaking of all—the “dripping blood” effect seen at Prabal Gurung. Balancing out these more extreme styles, we noticed plenty of glamorous metallic varnishes and colorful two-tone manicures that added the perfect pop of sparkle and impact.
