beauty: hair

Schwarzkopf’s new season: four the new way

The siren style

THE HAIR BUSINESS has always kept an eye on catwalk trends. It makes sense: as far as consumers are concerned, a lot of beauty coverage comes in fashion magazines like Lucire, rather than bespoke titles that are aimed more at the trade.

Schwarzkopf, for this season, identified its Essential Looks from fashion as being futurism, two-tone, siren and the dancer.

Futurism ties in well with the trends Lucire has projected for the summer, identifying the shimmery, silver tones that were prevalent on catwalks earlier in the year. Trend-wise, too, futurism is an acknowledgement that there has been too much emphasis on retro design over the last 10 years, exemplified by products such as the Volkswagen New Beetle and clothing that has been very clearly 1970s- and 1980s-inspired.

After all—and older readers can associate with this—the 21st century was meant to be a time of spacesuits, food in pill form, and electric cars.

Schwarzkopf sees this trend as ‘sleek’ and ‘razor sharp’, citing collections from Balenciaga, Hussein Chalayan, Gareth Pugh and Versace. The company believes trends will include angular lines, with a “non-violent” violet orange complementing the colours on one side of the parting. Alternatively, the style can be represented in dark violet and light ruby.

Its two-tone approach is about combining ‘Pared-down luxury and off-beat modernism—simple, streamlined silhouettes with tone-on-tone.’ Modernism seems to be on the ball, too—when Lucire first went into print, it seemed to be the movement that would take hold by mid-decade.

The new modernism—as opposed to postmodernism—emphasizes the contrast between black and white, championing the monochrome and minimalism. Jean-Pierre Braganza, Marc Jacobs, Gareth Pugh, Yves St Laurent, Chanel and Versace are cited as influences.

Schwarzkopf forecasts medium-length hair with broken lines and sloping fringe, and platinum blonde as the shade representing this style. It also suggests an ‘A-line shape with long layers and soft sloping fringe’ as a second style, with colours of rich browns and deep golden syrup, the effect being a high-shine finish.

Siren is perhaps more obvious—less a design movement, more a feminine type in itself. ‘Power dressing for super-lux starlets,’ states the company, building on the colours seen at Alberta Ferretti (magenta), Balenciaga (bright blue), Jenny Packham (gold), Prada (violet), Valentino (red) and Versace (mauve). Cut-wise, the look features rounded layers with a heavy fringe, separating the head into three bold sections. Colours suggested include dark blackberry, bright cherry and pale strawberry ice or pale velvet rose, suggesting pluralism.

A second style cut features looser layers with a mid-length fringe, adopting auburn–gold tones.

The dancer, to us, is more an eastern look, though it is not mentioned by Schwarzkopf itself. The look’s vintage detailing and retro styling acknowledges that we have not totally rid ourselves of the rear-view mirror, always inevitable in fashion.

Dolce & Gabbana, Michael Kors, Valentino, Viktor & Rolf, Y-3 by Yamamoto and Hussein Chalayan all showed shorter hair on the catwalks.

Schwarzkopf, meanwhile, indicates that the cut is a ‘free-flowing layered shape with texture and movement,’ based around triangles. Light blonde is the main trend colour; though nutmeg, almond and rich browns are forecast for colours that express the overall style.

The looks were previewed in Auckland during the winter, and are hitting Schwarzkopf salons now. •

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The dancer dressing


Two-tone dressing


Futurism dressing

After all—and older readers can associate—the 21st century was meant to be a time of spacesuits, food in pill form, and electric cars