The Futuristic Braids at Tory Burch Will Make You Want to Grow Out Last Season’s Bob

Tory Burch showed her Fall collection at noon today, downtown at Pier 17, instead of during her normal morning slot, uptown. It was a momentarily disorienting logistical change, compounded by an unfamiliar sighting backstage: as models like Kiki Willems and Selena Forrest shuffled around in monogramed Tory Burch jumpsuits, Guido Palau was perfecting tailbone-grazing, super sleek, “futuristic Avatar” braids. “This is not a country braid” the hairstylist joked of the soft, loose, vaguely sporty style that is a more familiar part of Burch’s repertoire. But the plait that Palau molded into submission with Redken Dry Shampoo Paste, and which swung like a horsewhip down the back of ruffled blouses and structured coats, wasn’t out of place either.

“It’s a classic style, with a twist,” he insisted, emphasizing that the extreme length felt like an opportunity to push things a bit further. “Suddenly everything ‘normal’ doesn’t feel like enough,” Palau said of the riffs he has executed so far this week—micro-short bangs, hip-hanging extensions—and the desire to break from the natural, undone hairstyles that have dominated the runways for the past few seasons. If it’s any indication of what’s to come as the New York shows pick up speed and the collections move to Europe, things are about to get very interesting.