Autumn in hair terms is the red season, as hair starts to warm up as the temperatures cool down.
And it’s not only the colourists who are thankful for the bleaching, highlighting and Balayage respite — your hair is ready for the break too. As we’ve discussed before in this column, autumn is a great season to give your hair some TLC (first Nineties pun), but this year even more so as the coppers, cognacs and champagnes are surging and the red (hair) army is on its way.
This season, looks are inspired by the 1990s — from the fiery postgrunge cool girl hair of singer/ songwriter Tori Amos, Gillian Anderson in the X Files and even Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Sarah Michelle Gellar. We will rule out Geri Halliwell’s Ginger Spice barnet (despite the chunky highlights being most definitely ‘a thing’ this season).
So what is about these reds that are making them so relative this season? Well, the Nineties in general is a little like the Seventies in that it wasn’t really that exciting at the time but when you look back there are some extraordinary key moments.
Against the dark and bleak political and social landscape of the 1970s, you had pivotal moments including glam rock and, of course, punk. And in the 1990s, with the world on the brink of Armageddon and economic ruin after the 1980s yuppie excess, we had grunge, Friends and Girl Power. And it seems that the feisty, quick-witted red head had all the best lines and looks.
For our Alfaparf Milano campaign for Benvoleo we took our inspiration from these Nineties icons, creating almost grungy textures — rich autumnal reds smouldering like a Halloween bonfire, enriched with moisture and vitality. Our looks combine Nineties attitude and nonchalance with a modern-day awareness.
The style created here was plaited (how 1990s is that?) then flat-ironed into shape to create an irregular movement that looks natural and unstructured but still defined and clean. We used the Benvoleo Thickness Shot to add extra muscle to keep the finish strong and firm before adding the Alfaparf Style Stories Volume Mousse for the plaits and styled with Alfaparf Style Stories Heat Protection Spray to minimise any damage caused by the straightening irons. It’s hard to imagine the 1990s culturally without thinking about Girl Power — in some ways a simple throwaway line that looked good on a t-shirt, but in others a cultural phenomenon. When considering the context of Girl Power for our Benvoleo campaign, natural hair in its raw, untouched beauty was essential. Hair for us has always been a symbol of defiance, inde – pendence, identity and freedom.
Now more than ever, hair freedom is as vital as it was in the Nineties when artists like Macy Gray, Lauryn Hill and Mel B heralded the return of the natural hair aesthetic, whilst tipping their hats to the civil rights movement and artists who first embraced the natural hair identity as a symbolic reinforcement of their cultural past and beliefs.
These 1990s artists took the baton for a new generation and watched it crossover into mainstream fashion and culture. In our collection, we see natural hair as a symbol for a new movement, the move towards global and environmental awareness and a sense that hair, like all things, is best when left alone — well, almost.
With Isabella, our beautiful model from Brazil, we discussed how she prepared her hair from shampoo to finish and I replicated those steps almost exactly, in order to retain the integrity of the look.
The cut itself was based on a method we discussed together — the natural texture of the hair allows for extreme volume so we used the Hydration Creamy Shampoo and Conditioner from the new Benvoleo range to ensure maximum moisture then dried the hair slowly and gently on cool to warm air with a dryer and diffuser to create the ‘Macy’ texture, finishing with the Alfaparf Milano Style Stories Classic Hair Spray for extra hold.
We decided that the quintessential natural curl look was a twisted curl texture that was all the rage back in the Nineties — a technique that really hasn’t gone away. Less obvious than the classic Afro, this look is more refined and styled — a slight homage to dreadlocks or locks, but the curl is still intact and temporary.
So again Isabella and I worked on creating the Nineties twist curl together. After shampooing the hair this time we took small sections and twisted into individual ringlets using the Benvoleo Detangling Leave In treatment. Once all the hair has been set, you can either allow to dry naturally or diffuse dry. Diffuse drying will speed up the process and also create more volume. Once Isabella’s hair was completely dry, we tipped her head upside down and released the ringlets, creating a chunky curl with volume and shape.
You can play with the shape to create your own style as the curls or ringlets are now very pliable, allowing maximum freedom.
There is no doubt that the haircut of the 1990s was the Rachel, made famous by Jennifer Aniston of the hit comedy Friends. I distinctly remember clients queuing up for the Rachel for almost a year and I made many TV appearances reinventing the cut over and over again.
Ultimately it’s a blown-out shag haircut and its influence is very much in the 1970s and though the 1990s version looks very dated today, you can still see elements of it in wolf cuts and butterfly layered haircuts.
But the big haircut for 2023 is a take on Gillian Anderson’s X Files character Scully. A follow on from the French bob trend of last season, this look is a killer, skimming the jaw, red hot and serious. Worn loose and light or straight and sharp there is no way to get it wrong — pile it high for Linda Evangelista supermodel glam or a sleek side part and tucked behind the ears for the a classic androgynous vibe. So that’s you set for autumn 2023, ready to party like it’s 1999 all over again.
