From The New York Times
The New York Times has done something extraordinary with their Front Row to Fashion Week, the most amazing presentation, visually stunning, useful and informative too. I show only a few of many designers here and you can click on each photo to make it larger. They say: “Of the hundreds of fall 2014 collections shown during New York Fashion Week, here are the ones that left the biggest impression on fashion editors as they headed off to the next round of shows, in London, Milan and Paris.” Congratulations Mike Bostock, Shan Carter, Erik Hinton and Ruth La Ferla. Click here for the stunning presentation of all you need to know about fashion for fall.
However, while everything you need to know about fashion for Fall 2014 is here, sadly, once again, there’s not much inspiration on the hair front. There is some, but most of the runway hair was dreary, boring, often over-greasy, dirty looking, over-messed up hair or that old load of nothing stand-by, the ponytail and this is what walked the runway in almost every show, nothing much new. I just can’t compute how fashion designers design new fashions for shows season after season, yet hairdressers can live with themselves by doing the same old hair season after season. Yes, the designer wants safe hair, and the designer rules, but surely the same interesting hair on every model won’t take away from their fashions and would make their designs more interesting, just as accessories can do. Hairdressers surely could motivate some designers with some more exciting yet appropriate hair ideas for Fashion Week shows. Perhaps hairdressers should unite, become a stronger force, just as fashion designers have, to get out of this stagnation, this sad state of hair ideas which does nothing to inspire the mere mortals out there to wear their hair in something newer than the same look they are all wearing, long, ponytailed too many days but not, thank goodness, all greasy, stringy, and dirty-looking!! And not as messy as fashion designers, fashion stylists and hairdressers seem to think is the way people want to or should wear their hair. It is not. Please, dear hairdressers, fashion designers, fashion stylists, please show more interesting hair next season … but I am not holding my breath, because while everyone from fashion designers to magazine editors and the sponsors – and the hairdressers – accept dreary hair and the ponytail as a fashion trend year after year, nothing will change.
Thank you, Michael. I think, mostly, it is the fashion designers and their fashion stylists who simply do not want hair of interest. They want safe and simple. Even the big name hair care sponsors, who pay thousands, don’t have influence. The fashion designer rules. It is their show. Having said that, some hairdressers really try to do interesting hair (Peter Gray is one example) but they are overruled. Other hairdressers do a lot of shows, one may argue too many shows! Most take the easy way. Fashion designers aren’t interested in working with hairdressers who spend their time only educating other hairdressers, they want to work with name editorial hairdressers, only. The editors of magazines have a responsibility here but they also want advertising dollars and few seem to have the will to show or write only the very best. Another point is the Vogues of this world only cover and show work from the top designers, they seldom cover the smaller designers, who often have more interesting hair. See some on my website, never covered by major press, some not even by hair magazines!!
Thank you Helen for posting this, it needed to be said. It maybe the fashion designers say to the hairdressers “Don’t do anything interesting” or is it that the big name companies and big name hairdressers have simply run out of ideas?…. As I visit salons across the country, I am amazed at the video’s from manufacturers with their high paid hairdressers and trade magazines doing tutorials on ponytails…. mediocre has replaced good, and the new stylists see this and want to emulate this which will lead to the dumbing down of hairdressing. There are some amazing hairdressers out there offering education at a much higher level, these are the people we need to support not the dog & pony show!…..