Feature - Hair Trends - Fashion Weeks AW2011

Text by Callam Warrington // Images by Chris Moore // Catwalking.com // Published Wednesday 27 July 2011

MyHairDressers.com endeavours to keep you up to speed with the latest trends and try to assimilate the looks into real time salon experiences. This month we've been looking at the catwalk looks from the Autumn/Winter 2011 collections.

Whilst compiling this report, a huge discussion broke out in the MyHairDressers.com office, “Who rules the trends?” Is it Vogue with its omniscient reportage; is it the runways citing the hottest backstage stars of the hair world or could it be Hollywood’s red carpet? Whilst we all agree that Hollywood’s red carpet moments certainly inspire the celebs of today and give us our photo fodder in the glossies, we can confirm that the runways of London, New York, Paris and Milan dictate the looks for the celebs and Vogue to emulate. Running six months ahead of us normal folk, and planning up to 3 months even before that, it's no single mortal who decides how that will play out. It’s the likes of Guido Pailau, Eugene Souleiman and Sam McKnight who invoke the feeling of Autumn/ Winter hair during mid-spring meetings with designers. This new monthly feature has been designed to keep you on trend with all that's circling the orbit of fashion and this month we'll start with the runways and work our way backwards for the coming months. 

The big beauty trends are the dictators that mould the way we think about hair in our modern salon environment, it may be the way an up-do looks undone or the finish on a curl, (Dolly Parton curl - bad, Scarlett Johansson wave- good). All these minor details are the drivers that set us apart from salon to salon and with MyHairDressers.com's continual guidance and video tutorials we can bring you out on top.

//Low Rider Partings

There is nothing new to add to the side-parting centre parting debate…boring! However, this season there seemed to be a glut of super severe low side partings. Moving things slightly further down the side the head Stella McCartney, YSL and Marni pushed the envelope on the parting issue with Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Mary Katrantzou bringing up the rear. The Low Rider Side is not an easy look to translate to the salon, however schoolgirls have been rocking the look for a while now, so it shouldn’t be too long before the big girls catch up.

//Bad Girl Buns

Thank the Lord - fashion has found a sense of humour! Topshop Unique smashed it out of the ballpark with its canine inspired buns this season, two placed firmly atop of the head and wrapped with velvet ribbon bows. They were not alone in this season's bun fight, Marios Schwab shot us a dynamically stitched bun, almost Sumo inspired, while Donna Karan in New York gave us relaxed elegance with a single loose doughnut shape. Chignons and buns are always a good look for salon clients as the foundation is secure and the remaining hair can be dressed according to the occasion. Take a look at our classic chignon video for inspiration.

//My Fetish Pony

She walks, she talks and she even answers back… yes, she is my fetish ponytail! Taking the lead, literally, from Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton, the ponytail has grown up into a super slick, hard talking madam. Not for the faint hearted or the over 20s, the scraped back ponytails seen on the runways this season were severe and unforgiving. There were a few softer versions from Valentino and Costume National but the real high octane numbers were the best; Issey Miyake’s contribution bordered on sci-fi, with double height fastening and elaborate etching - true technical genius. Although most clients wear a ponytail at some point the real deals come from bending the head backward during execution, see our High Ponytail video for inspiration.