Hair how to: D&G’s bouncy blow dry.

At D&G's farewell show, the hypnotically bright collection was glued together with free flowing, blow dried hair. But while blow dries advertise themselves to be easy-to-achieve, it’s important to get the optimum bounce in the roots and ensure the soft waves frame the face. Here's how to get it right.

 

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With their hypnotically bright spring 2012 collection, the fashion world saw the last of D&G on the Milan runway. Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce announced the merger of D&G with the mainline collection of Dolce and Gabbana, but they made sure the exit on stage right for the label was an optimistic one.
The monochromatic tones of printed text dresses and chaotic animal prints were glued together with free flowing, blow dried hair. Even though blow dries advertise themselves to be exceptionally casual and easy-to-achieve, in reality, they’re very conflicting. It’s important to get the optimum bounce in the roots and ensure the soft waves frame the face.
To save you from the hair-related anxiety, the mastermind behind Redken’s hair team has shared his tips to get “a gorgeous blow-out”.
Follow the step-by-step how to guide after the break. If you’d like to make sure that you don’t miss any of the other looks in our 2012 hair trends guide, you can subscribe to our newsletter or RSS feed.

The How to:

Redken’s Creative Consultant, Guido, says, “This style looks effortless but does require a few steps to make sure the hair flows on the runway”.

If you want to look runway-ready even while doing your daily chores (who wouldn’t?), follow the steps below.

Towel-dry your hair and apply any variety of blow-dry enhancing cream to the roots. The product will create texture and hold. Guido used Redken’s Velvet Gelatine 07 to create the D&G look.

Section the hair and blow-dry using a round brush. Brush away from the roots to create volume.

Once the hair is dry, make a centre-part and brush the hair out. This will give the bounce and fullness to the locks.

If you want fuller, longer-lasting waves, leave the hair to set in a few large rollers. Backstage at D&G, models’ hair was set with several rollers while they waited for the show to go on. Be sure to roll the hair in the direction you want it to sit (in this case, roll the hair under), with the hair separated into a top, middle and bottom section.

Spray hairspray on a paddle hairbrush and gently comb away from the parting in the direction of the hair. This will settle the visible flyaway strands around the crown. Remember never to directly spray hairspray on the hair for this look.

Bouncy blow dry: how to wear it

Short answer is to wear it with anything. From work wear to a countryside holiday or even a red-carpet event (if those are part of your lifestyle), this laid-back blow wave hairstyle compliments almost everything. But it’s not just the wardrobe, wear this hair down look with metallic-smoky eyes, a bright lipstick or even a nude-dewy face, it’s adaptable in its entirety.

Thanks to Guido at Redken for sharing his how-to from backstage at D&G.

Half Up Wedding Hairstyles

Posted by Muskaan at 03:27  

Half Up Wedding Hairstyles
he selection of an ideal hairstyle can be difficult so you can ask your hair stylist to help you in finding a perfect hairstyle.  Some of the brides opt for classic updos whereas others choose straight hair with layers. When brides want to get their hair off the face they choose the updo hairstyles by getting a bun at the back and curls on the sides. By doing so, the features are enhanced and an elegant look is obtained. Many brides want half up hairstyle for their wedding day.

Wedding day is special for brides as they are curious to look beautiful. They want everything perfect in terms of their dress, jewelry, make up and hairstyle. The brides must choose the wedding hairstyles half up keeping in mind their hair length and hair texture. Basically half up hairstyle is styled with half down with curly look. To get your hair styled with wedding hairstyles half up you can part your hair and pin them with hair pins to secure the hair. Addition of a flower to the hairstyle will look gorgeous. This is the hairstyle that is suitable for beach weddings and other outdoor wedding events.

The new luxury: The curated wardrobe.

Picking a hair colour for 2011

Written by Daniel P Dykes

I’ve alluded to this before, but now let me put pen to paper, or at least fingers to keyboard, and come out and say it. Every year Fashionising.com works hard to provide you with inspiration for the year’s trends, hence we’re currently putting together the take on 2011′s hairstyles and 2011′s fashion trends. But hairstyles are only a part of the equation; another part is made up by the year’s haircuts and another its hair colors. And what will they be, might you ask?

Redhead: red hair color women’s hair trend

White blonde hair colour

 

 

The new luxury: The curated wardrobe.

For a long time it was exactly the opposite: a big wardrobe was the hallmark of the haves and the have nots. Those with wardrobes bulging at the seams were those who lived a life of luxury. They were also often the rich. So for lots of people the desire for a wardrobe that contained every potential shoe and shirt combination became their desire, became a point of envy.

But society has moved on.

Over the past decade we experienced a change in the way we could consume fashion, one with an impact not seen since the days of the industrial revolution. It became quicker and easier to produce fashionable clothes and accessories than ever before. In fact, the fashion industry at all ends of the spectrum allowed it to happen. With fanfare the world’s big fashion houses showed their next collections six months in advance and the high street stores, imbued with new technology and able to understand every detail and trend that had been presented before the catwalk was even cold, were able to release it in mere weeks. The fact that so many shoppers readily bought what the high street offered up was not our fault. The industry model was and is broken. Broken to a point where it encouraged us – after all, why wait 6 months to invest in a look that you’re excited about now? There was a novelty to it all too. Fast fashion. Good looking fashion. Affordable fashion. Had we ever had it so good?
But that novelty has worn off. The ability to access fast fashion has grown at a rate faster than Zara have been able to open their 1,700 stores. Comprehend that figure and add to it the an imaginary figure of just how many stores there are for other fast, fashion-foward brands such as H&M and you realise that fast fashion, and the dream of the massive wardrobe that it enabled with an affordable price tag, is now commonplace. It’s not just available to everyone, it is everyone.

“There was a novelty to it all. Fast fashion. Good looking fashion. Affordable fashion. Had we ever had it so good? That novelty has worn off.”

And a fashioniser, the world’s fashion forwards who make stylish socialising their hallmark and understand that fashion is a projection of where they’re going in life, never wants to be everyone. So the definition of luxury changes. Because luxury is always the opposite of commonality, in every facet of society. The working class poor could scarecly afford food, so the rich Edwardians were luxuriously fat. Processed and average quality food is now so accessible that organic and ‘pure’ foods, the polar opposite of what you find in the freezer isle and at takeaways, are now considered the luxury. Cheap food is now so accessible that waist lines have bulged and obesity has become an epidemic, thus it’s perceived by many to be a luxury to be slim. Across society luxury is defined by the polar opposites of what is most common and what those without a particular attribute, an attribute that is sometimes wealth but just as likely to be skill or knowledge, can have. So where does that leave fashion in an era where everyone can have a big wardrobe, where everyone can own too much, and they can do it cheaply?
The new luxury is a small wardrobe. Not necessarily an expensive one nor one filled solely with goods from only the world’s leading fashion houses. These are defintions of luxury fashion past. The new luxury is now to be able to live and thrive with a small, pleasurable wardrobe.

“Curation is refinement. Refinement is a skill… we must cull from our wardrobe removing from it all that looks average. We must become our own curators.”

But a small wardrobe needn’t mean doing without. Anything but. It is in fact the hallmark of the modern fashioniser with their finger on the pulse. You see, to have a small wardrobe and still look stylish requires one to actually have style. Moreso, it requires one to really understand fashion. Each and everyone single one of us has to take a leaf out of the books of the world’s best art galleries. Have you ever noticed how galleries have access to so much art but display so little of it? That’s because they’re curated. Curation is refinement. Refinement is a skill. And we are much the same: we have access to so much but day to day we display so little of it. Thus, with the death of average in mind, we must cull from our wardrobe removing from it all that looks average. We must become our own curators.

Becoming a curator, however, not only takes effort it takes practice. If you’re anything like so many of my friends then your wardrobe is overflowing with goods. For them, cutting it back, curating it to include only the exceptional, is not only a daunting task, it’s a paralysing one. The irony is, of course, that they’re paralysed every morning or before every event as they attempt to piece together an outfit. They simply have too many clothes and accessories hanging before them to make a proper decision about what to wear. They try on outfit after outfit. One comes off and promptly makes it to the ground; “not working” or “not good enough” they say. Their wardrobes are cluttered, and it’s been generations since anyone thought clutter was fashionable. A curated wardrobe doesn’t suffer from this problem. Whether the pieces are high quality or low cost, they all work, often together. It’s easier to dress. Looking stylish becomes near-on effortless. It takes effort to create the curated wardrobe but you know you need to when you open your wardrobe (or wardrobes if you’ve really been one to indulge in the past-luxury of owning too much) and are greeted by hangers full of stuff, much of it average, yet can say still “I don’t know what to wear.”
So if you’re at that stage or if you’re ready to indulge in the new luxury of a refined and curated wardrobe (you might be only recently into fashion and building your wardrobe for the first time) where do you begin?
With the foundation pieces for a perfect wardrobe.

Curating your wardrobe to include only the exceptional is not only a daunting task, it’s a paralysing one. So where do you begin?”

Fashionising.com’s will soon be publishing a practical follow up guide to the curated wardrobe that will help with that very last point: selecting the foundation pieces for a perfect wardrobe. To be notified once it’s published you can subscribe to our free newsletter by entering your e-mail address into the field below and clicking next, or you can become a fan

 

Picking a hair colour for 2011

Written by Daniel P Dykes

I’ve alluded to this before, but now let me put pen to paper, or at least fingers to keyboard, and come out and say it. Every year Fashionising.com works hard to provide you with inspiration for the year’s trends, hence we’re currently putting together the take on 2011′s hairstyles and 2011′s fashion trends. But hairstyles are only a part of the equation; another part is made up by the year’s haircuts and another its hair colors. And what will they be, might you ask?

Before we discuss the year’s hair colors it’s first important to discuss a the year’s rule.

The rule for 2011

2011 is not just a new year, it’s a new decade, and new decades bring more than just slight change, they bring about an entirely new generation of thought. It’s a case of out with the old and in with the new, and such a mindset is applied to everything from society’s outlook to the aesthetic styles it embraces.
This new decade will be no different. The most dominant clothing trend of the last decade, military fashion, is finally being pushed to the back of the wardrobe. And hair colors are undergoing a major change too.
You may read that and be under the impression that 2011, and the rest of the new decade, is a period of wild hair colors. That’s not what we’re saying at all. Clothing trends may become more liberal, but it’s not the same for hair. In fact, the change leads to just one rule. It’s the rule for picking your hair color in 2011 and for many of the years to come. And that rule is thus:

Just change it.

Yes, it’s almost cliche to write it, and somewhere a Nike lawyer is checking to see if we’ve just infringed their trademark. I confess though, cliches are easy to remember and when you’re picking your new hair color for the year I want you to remember that one rule. Again, just change it. Pick a color that suits you, one that gives you confidence, make it a shade that’s on trend, and go make that hair color your own.

The inspiration

Where has the inspiration for the “just change it” rule come from I hear you ask. While the start of a new decade inspires change, there are also those people driving the idea of simply changing your hair color as a trend in itself.
Let us explore.

Abbey Lee Kershaw

Abbey Lee Kershaw was the first top tier model to change her hair. One day she was sporting a mousy-brown hair color, the next day we were hearing stories of her 8 hour conversion into a near-platinum blonde. Abbey Lee had “just changed it” – well, just is an overstatement. It would have been a carefully considered change. One made to redefine her. To set her apart. Give her a point of difference. It’s, thus, a hair change you should take inspiration from.

Natasha Poly

Abbey Lee’s change neatly segues into a change of hair color undertaken by another top model. Natasha Poly had a hair colour that complimented her Russian looks and infinite legs. She is the perfect blonde, or at least she was. Then someone at her agency decided she needed a new look for the new year. A different look that set her apart from a sea of other leggy blondes and made her feel fresh again.
So it was that our top model of 2009 cast off the dark-rooted blonde hair that she’d become known for and became a richly colored brunette in entirety.

Eniko Mihalik

Eniko Mihalik has a very rare quality – one moment she can offer up a cute-as-a-button smile, only to follow it up with a look of such sexual confidence that men have been rumoured to fall to their feet. And yet prior to 2011 she’d been a brunette; all well and good for cute-Eniko, but a plain brunette hair color has never quite driven home the sexuality confidence she can ooze and brings in so much of her work as a result.
What to do with her hair for the new year then? Compliment her bombshell attitude with bombshell red hair.

Lily Cole

Eniko’s hair color change is the most personality suited we’ve looked at so far, with Abbey Lee’s and Natasha’s seeming far more dramatic. Dramatic, however, is Lily Cole. Despite so many women now coveting the right shade of red hair, 2011 is the year to change, and change it Lily has transforming her trademark red locks to a very deep brown with eyebrows to match.
Bonus point of inspiration: Lily’s fringe. The fringe is back with vengeance for 2011.

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Redhead: red hair color women’s hair trend

Written by Daniel P Dykes.

When I penned Fashionising.com’s bible of hair trends for 2010 I promised one more addition to the list of 2010 hair colours. Why? I did so not because of looming deadlines, but because this particular colour trend deserved it very own article.
For the past decade century, you see, most of the fashion industry has been obsessed with blondes. Be it on models or on A listers, blondes are reputed to have more fun. Make no mistake, blonde hair isn’t going anywhere with 2010 seeing both peroxide blonde and golden blonde as ‘on trend’. But with the end of the 2000s and the start of the next decade it’s time for the blonde bombshell to make way.
Introducing the redhead bombshell.

Red hair in 2010

The redhead isn’t just a hair colour in 2010, it’s an attitude. If it were a formula I could mix up in Fashionising.com’s offices it would end up 2 parts red hair, 2 parts personality, and 2 parts sexual confidence. Think model Coco Rocha as a redhead oozing of her playful, confident personality and you’re somewhat there. Just add the bombshell sexual confidence, and you have it.
Red hair is perfect for the cooler months and if you’re considering a changing your look for 2010, consider red hair as the perfect option for Autumn 2009 / Fall 2009 or Fall 2010. As for which shades of red hair and how to style it? Read on.

Which colour red?

As it is with any hair colour, not all shades of red hair are in in 2010. Forget the bright copper and crimson tones: red hair in 2010 is about richly coloured and natural looking red hair.
Part of the appeal of red hair is that its a rarity. It’s said that less than 2% of people are natural redheads, so the more natural your red colour looks, the more it can be associated with something rare and exclusive. Hence there’s only one real golden rule worth stating when it comes to red hair in 2010: it can’t look fake.

A natural redhead with blue eyes: Lily Cole

Different hair colours will take to red dye in varying ways, so your best bet is always to head to a trusted salon and get advice on which colour will work best for you. Very light hair will need a subtle approach to avoid turning too orange; while very dark hair may need to be lightened first in order to achieve a rich red colour. While subtle highlights and lowlights help to achieve the natural redhead look, obvious contrasting streaks are not recommended.

Red hair trend: who it’s suited to

Red hair is to the cooler months what blonde hair is to Spring. This is particularly true of darker auburn tones, or lighter reds against pale skin.
The pale redhead
Pale porcelain skin will almost always work a treat with red hair – particularly if your eyes are green or blue. This is a great Winter look.
The freckled redhead
For Spring 2010 girls with freckles and bronzed skin are the perfect neo-redheads. Go for lighter reds like natural gingers and neutral-tone coppers.
The fair browed
A perfect match to the bleached blonde eybrows trend, both pale and bronzed skinned redheads should consider lightening their brows. This not only adds to the natural-born redhead effect, but also brings the look well and truly into 2010.

Julia Hafstrom: natural red hair & blonde eyebrows

Ways to style red hair

There are of course many ways to style red tresses – as with any other hair colour. So instead of stating the obvious, let us give you three ideas of creative ways to style red hair – with the intent of creating not just a hairstyle but an overall look and persona.
The Warrior

Luisa Bianchin by Frauke Fischer

Redheads through history have also often been portrayed as fiery and fierce, yet seductive; from Queen Elizabeth I and Boudica to Cleopatra (who some argue was a redhead) making this colour perfectly complimentary to 2010′s warrior trend. For the fierce warrior look go for long and voluminous cascading red waves, or add some halo-like milkmaid braids.

» More pictures

The pin-up

Redheaded Vargas Pinup Girl

The red-haired bombshell goes perfectly with vintage styling and a fun and sexy attitude. Go for a sleek side-part and 1940′s style waves, or victory rolls. Take your inspiration from Vargas classic pin-up girls.

» More pictures

The Maiden

Cecile Sinclair in Lula Magazine, shot by Nicole Nodland

The redheaded fair maiden is delicate, pale and mysterious. Think Pre-Raphaelite beauties with blushing cheeks and wide eyes. Repunzel braids, twists and chignons interwoven with wildflowers or ribbons are perfectly suited to this look. Try pairing it with some of the most striking 2010 fashion trends to give it a modern edge.
 

White blonde hair colour

Written by Daniel P Dykes

If it has ever been out of fashion I don’t remember it, which is another way of saying that platinum blonde is a hair colour trend in 2011. And perhaps 2011 is the perfect year for the hair colour, after all it’s the year whose hair colour trends have something of a manifesto: just change it. So if you are going to change your hair colour, if you’re going to opt for a colour that shall set you apart from the crowd, consider a shock of blonde hair that draws the gaze of those nearby, consider the platinum blonde hair shade.

The way to wear platinum blonde now

With or without dark roots

I understand that this is somewhat ambiguous, but stay with me. If you’d asked me several months ago about the blonde hair with dark roots colour trend I would have told you it has had it’s day. But it hasn’t, and it’s hung around accordingly, but I do still believe that it is coming to an end. Thus if you were to opt to change your hair colour to white blonde / platinum blonde in the near future (say, prior to the middle of 2011) I think you’d be safe to do opt for dark roots.
That said: if it’s an option, forgo the dark roots and opt for a full head of platinum / white blonde hair instead. The overall impact of platinum blonde hair will be diminished should you opt for dark roots and wear it with an up do. You can get a good sense of this dimishing affect by comparing the following picture of model Siri Tollerod with a picture of her from J. Crew’s catalogue above.

Without under colours

The odd inch of dark roots is one thing, but two-tone hair or an under colour is another thing altogether. Thankfully I’m not really seeing people attempt the look, but with the prevalence of two-tone hair colour over the past years it’s only a matter of time.
The reasoning here is two-fold:

1. a second hair colour will reduce the visual impact of platinum blonde
2. platinum / white blonde in 2011 is about youthful elegance or a cooler-than-cool attitude; two-tone hair in 2011 lends itself more towards the punk revival

Platinum blonde: suitable hair cuts

The latter of the two last points reveals much about hair cuts and hairstyles that work with platinum blonde hair.
If you’re looking for an elegant interpretation of platinum blonde then your preference should lean towards the year’s longer hair styles. From there you can style the hair colour in umpteenth ways with a preference towards either bombshell waves (below) or a straight hair style.

If you’re after more of a rock chic look, however, I can recommend one person you must keep your eye on for inspiration: Australian model Kate Peck. She has the look pegged, and pairs a dramatic hair colour with an equally dramatic hair cut to really set herself apart on the catwalk.

While not truly platinum / white blonde, our feature on 5 ways to style peroxide blonde should also lend some inspiration to those seeking the hair colour for themselves. That hair styling inspiration feature specifically looks at styling the hair colour when cut with a fringe.
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Whitespiration

A moment of inspiration for a 2011 hair colour trend, white blonde hair, in the guise of New Zealand model Phoebe Farrell.

Though for those after more than just hair inspiration, here’s a full length shot that includes some very on-trend denim along with a sheer top.

 

 

Picking a hair colour for 2011

 

Written by Daniel P Dykes.

I’ve alluded to this before, but now let me put pen to paper, or at least fingers to keyboard, and come out and say it. Every year Fashionising.com works hard to provide you with inspiration for the year’s trends, hence we’re currently putting together the take on 2011′s hairstyles and 2011′s fashion trends. But hairstyles are only a part of the equation; another part is made up by the year’s haircuts and another its hair colors. And what will they be, might you ask?

Before we discuss the year’s hair colors it’s first important to discuss a the year’s rule.

The rule for 2011

2011 is not just a new year, it’s a new decade, and new decades bring more than just slight change, they bring about an entirely new generation of thought. It’s a case of out with the old and in with the new, and such a mindset is applied to everything from society’s outlook to the aesthetic styles it embraces.
This new decade will be no different. The most dominant clothing trend of the last decade, military fashion, is finally being pushed to the back of the wardrobe. And hair colors are undergoing a major change too.
You may read that and be under the impression that 2011, and the rest of the new decade, is a period of wild hair colors. That’s not what we’re saying at all. Clothing trends may become more liberal, but it’s not the same for hair. In fact, the change leads to just one rule. It’s the rule for picking your hair color in 2011 and for many of the years to come. And that rule is thus:

Just change it.

Yes, it’s almost cliche to write it, and somewhere a Nike lawyer is checking to see if we’ve just infringed their trademark. I confess though, cliches are easy to remember and when you’re picking your new hair color for the year I want you to remember that one rule. Again, just change it. Pick a color that suits you, one that gives you confidence, make it a shade that’s on trend, and go make that hair color your own.

The inspiration

Where has the inspiration for the “just change it” rule come from I hear you ask. While the start of a new decade inspires change, there are also those people driving the idea of simply changing your hair color as a trend in itself.
Let us explore.

Abbey Lee Kershaw

Abbey Lee Kershaw was the first top tier model to change her hair. One day she was sporting a mousy-brown hair color, the next day we were hearing stories of her 8 hour conversion into a near-platinum blonde. Abbey Lee had “just changed it” – well, just is an overstatement. It would have been a carefully considered change. One made to redefine her. To set her apart. Give her a point of difference. It’s, thus, a hair change you should take inspiration from.

Natasha Poly

Abbey Lee’s change neatly segues into a change of hair color undertaken by another top model. Natasha Poly had a hair colour that complimented her Russian looks and infinite legs. She is the perfect blonde, or at least she was. Then someone at her agency decided she needed a new look for the new year. A different look that set her apart from a sea of other leggy blondes and made her feel fresh again.
So it was that our top model of 2009 cast off the dark-rooted blonde hair that she’d become known for and became a richly colored brunette in entirety.

Eniko Mihalik

Eniko Mihalik has a very rare quality – one moment she can offer up a cute-as-a-button smile, only to follow it up with a look of such sexual confidence that men have been rumoured to fall to their feet. And yet prior to 2011 she’d been a brunette; all well and good for cute-Eniko, but a plain brunette hair color has never quite driven home the sexuality confidence she can ooze and brings in so much of her work as a result.
What to do with her hair for the new year then? Compliment her bombshell attitude with bombshell red hair.

Lily Cole

Eniko’s hair color change is the most personality suited we’ve looked at so far, with Abbey Lee’s and Natasha’s seeming far more dramatic. Dramatic, however, is Lily Cole. Despite so many women now coveting the right shade of red hair, 2011 is the year to change, and change it Lily has transforming her trademark red locks to a very deep brown with eyebrows to match.
Bonus point of inspiration: Lily’s fringe. The fringe is back with vengeance for 2011.