Proenza Schouler Just Sent Cool-Girl Wet Hair Down the Runway—And It’s Easier to Pull Off Than You Think
Slicked and soaked hair was forecasted to be a shoe-in for spring. But this afternoon's Proenza Schouler show proved you can just as easily slide into Fall 2019 wearing a slouchy cream suit or an oversized leather jacket cinched at the waist with raw damp strands. Inspired by this season’s androgynous silhouettes, hairstylist Holli Smith took a hyper-individual approach backstage, giving each model a high-shine, finger-raked style that, much like the clothes, married masculine and feminine.
From Dominican beauty Annibelis Baez's dark curls to artist muse Laura Morgan’s long blonde waves, the majority of the lineup received glossy slick backs with windblown lift at the roots and lengths that trailed neatly in the back. “There was a time when we were so obsessed with smoothing everything,” explained Smith of recalibrating the sleek style for a wide spectrum of hair types. “We don’t have to do that anymore and it’s so much cooler. It looks real.”
Smith began by blasting Frederic Fekkai's One Up Lift and Volume Spray through the roots and tips before combing it back and using her fingers to break up the plastered-to-the-head effect for a more natural feel. “It’s just like when you get out of the shower and you go, ‘Oh, I wish my hair could stay like this’,” she explained.
And for the girls with more abbreviated lengths, Smith took an even more bespoke approach. Sudanese stunner Anok Yai sported her natural raven Afro while Argentine runway regular Mica Arganaraz’s signature fringed shag got a boyish makeover. “We’re pulling out her bangs and sticking them behind the ear so it looks a little mullet-y,” said Smith while running One to Believe In Leave-In Conditioner through Arganaraz’s spirals for definition and light-catching sheen.
Much like designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez’s play between soft and hard with the clothes, makeup artist Dick Page opted to pair glowing skin and pretty mauve mouths with abstract, jet-black eyes using creamy black Maybelline Color Tattoo 24HR Shadow; one design with ultra-thick painterly brush strokes along the brow bone, and the other with razor-sharp “scratches” on the lower lash lines. Be it taking the full plunge with a slick back, or slashing on a graphic onyx gaze, borrowed-from-the-boys beauty has never been bolder—or deceivingly simple to execute.
