The Mane Men of NYFW on Fall’s Biggest Hair Trends
At first glance, fashion week can feel like a girls’ club. The models are female, the target audience is female, and the majority of snap-happy editors and bloggers all fall into the XX chromosome camp. Hair, however, is another story. Some of the greatest hair legends responsible for the biggest trends have been men—mane men, as we like to call them.
Since models and designers tend to get all the attention during fashion week, we thought we’d switch things up and turn the spotlight on the geniuses snipping, curling, straightening, and creating works of art behind the scenes. Despite the craziness backstage, hair pros Rodney Cutler, David Cruz, and Linh Nguyen managed to sneak a moment away to share exactly how they come up with the looks for each show, their fall hair trend predictions, and their tips for getting “naked” hair down pat. Keep scrolling to get to know three of fashion week’s mane men!
Lead Hairstylist For: Alice + Olivia, Tadashi Shoji, Zimmerman, Touray Wang, Franco Lacosta, Rob Garcia, and Greg Lauren
On His Creative Process:
“The most exciting part about fashion week is the collaborative energy that I get to share with other artists in our industry. Before every show, we have a preliminary meeting—known by industry vets as a beauty test—with the designer, and perform a hair test on one of the models. It’s during this meeting that we discover the story behind the woman wearing these clothes and the inspirations that led the designer to the clothes being presented each season. These are the stories that drive my design for the hair on every show.”
On His Favorite Look:
“While I loved them all, one of my favorite collaborations this season was with Alice + Olivia. The designer’s inspiration for the clothes was late ‘60s/early ‘70s boho-chic, with a sexy rock-and-roll vibe. The fabrics used were extremely luxurious and expensive looking, but maintained a really classic British sensibility. I designed a very structured updo style for this collection with a center part. We secured the hair into a ponytail and created a Japanese rope-braid that we then pinned to the nape of the head, and attached red Gerber daisies and green leaf accents.”
His Fall Trend Prediction:
“Strong, clean silhouettes with beautiful embellishments were definitely on trend this season. In addition to the floral accents at Alice + Olivia, we did a beautiful, simple pulled-back hair-look at Zimmermann, and secured the style with a very unique gold belt buckle/brooch accent piece. Think simple hair with grand details.”
His Trick for Model-Off-Duty Hair:
“Undone bedhead definitely popped up all around the runway this season. A great at home tip would be to roughly blowout the hair, apply some Redken Fashion Waves 07 ($19), and use a thick-barreled curling iron to provide shape and texture. Finish with a flexible hold hairspray like Wind Blown 05 ($22) for that tousled, lived-in finish.”
Pictured: Tadashi Shoji F/W '15
Lead Hairstylist For: Roomeur, Michael Costello, Noon by Noor, and Rachel Antonoff
On His Creative Process:
“The designer will give me the inspiration for that season. Themes, color, and mood boards are made by their team and shared with the hair, makeup and nail stylists. Before the show, and even the hair test, there are a lot of emails that go back and forth to provide inspiration and ideas.
We share photos from past editorial works, other catwalks, anything and everything that may give the stylist and designer a better idea of what they are looking to do together. Once we have all of these images, we edit down to what we feel, as the leads, are the top looks. We set up a day where we do several hair looks and decide together what look best encapsulates the collection for the season.
On His Favorite Look This Season:
“The style I created backstage at Roomeur was my favorite—it was all about dystopia, and incompleteness. I am obsessed with the French rolls on the side of the head.”
His Fall Hair Trend Prediction:
“Especially when it comes to your hair, don't fall into the trap of wearing only what's ‘on trend.’ Make sure that your cut and style are suitable for your face shape and body shape. That said, we all love a good trend! We will see a few different things this fall—for updos, I predict knots and rolls. Texture will have a slight wave and be incredibly soft and shiny—all and all not too ‘done.’ For cuts, I think we are going to go to the extremes, either really short hair or long hair.”
His Favorite Product for Model-Off-Duty Hair:
“Natural chic will never go out of style. It’s been here since I was born over four decades ago (shhhh!). There is something special about looking sexy and beautiful without working hard. However, for many women, ‘undone’ requires as much (or more) work. For those who have very straight hair, the right products are paramount—I swear by Redken Fashion Works 12 ($22), which I used a lot this season backstage.”
Pictured: Noon by Noor F/W '15
Lead Hairstylist For: Claudia Li, Adam Lippes, Ready to Fish
On His Creative Process:
“I consider hair in many ways to be the ultimate accessory. So when I go in to meet a designer, I'm highly influenced by the designer’s concept, the ‘woman’ they want to create. I'm oftentimes inspired not just by the overall aesthetic, but also by intricate details within the clothes themselves. I have created styles based on the way different garments were folded, flowed off the body, or even were sewn together, mimicking that shape or look with the hair itself.”
On His Favorite Look This Season:
“I think the look I created for the Ready to Fish show this season was a TON of fun for me. The style seems initially like a simple side part with a ponytail, but when you look closely, there is so much more going on. Each woman in the show has alternating textures within the style. The hair on the head was very shiny and wet looking, with a lot of depth and texture, but the ponytail was quite smooth and clean without moisture. That made it made it fun to do.”
His Fall Hair Trend Prediction:
“Some of the biggest trends I noticed were side parts, and side swept hair—you can do this with your hair down or when creating an updo. Braids are still in, so to make it more ‘fall,’ you can create a deep side part and mix it up with a braid without having to work too hard. Ponytails were also back, this time with a wet/shiny texture.
His Trick for Model-Off-Duty Hair: Dry Shampoo
“I think we'll be seeing undone hair for the fall still. And I like it—there's something quite sexy about it! One good way to achieve that is to use dry shampoo. Flip your head over, spray a little dry shampoo in it, shake it out and flip it back. Then shape your hair do with your fingers, using a light shaping/texturizing product. And don't be afraid to get your hands in there!”
A Trick to Liven Up Your Pony:
“Tie your hair back, then use a Mason Pearson brush (or any kind of brush that you have) and lightly ‘tap’ the bristles of the brush on your head, starting from the front of your head and working your way back to the ponytail. This will cause your little baby hairs to stick up without undoing the ponytail or making it loose.”
Click here to see three game-changing tricks we learned from Dick Page backstage at Michael Kors!
Pictured: Ready to Fish F/W '15