It can be hard to strike the right balance of casual yet interesting with a half-up ‘do. Balenciaga, of course, got it just right.
“The hair at Balenciaga is very natural, yet it’s smooth, not frizzy,” said Redken Creative Consultant Guido, who created the look. “I didn’t want to create big hair here today, but I still wanted it to feel very modern and rich. The style also fits with the metal hairpieces that Nicolas provided. They are really exquisite pieces, they were like twisted gold. We did a sort of rough, easy texture on the hair that offsets their beauty to a certain extent – they wouldn’t go with super luxe hair.”
To recreate the look, start off with an anti-frizz product on damp hair and rough blow dry. You want a smooth but natural-looking finish. Then create a messy center part and try Redken powder refresh 01 aerosol hair powder/dry shampoo all over to get the perfect texture and a little added grip. Take two sections from the very front, pull them back to just below the crown and secure with pins. Use two pins but align them so it looks like just one pin.
Since you likely won’t have the one-of-a-kind hairpieces, you could try an embellished pin!
I have a suspicion this chic but undone French twist at Nina Ricci could be done with wet hair. Guido says to wet hair with Redken full frame 07 all over volumizing mousse and then blow dry with a diffiuser. But, especially if you have thick or frizzy hair, you may find it more manageable to attempt with damp hair. Either way, you don’t want to create a part for this look, and you want to keep some volume so don’t pull too tightly back.
Wrap hair up into a French twist, using the end of a tail comb to tuck the ends of the hair under the twist and a few bobby pins to hold in place. Pull a few bits of the ends of the hair out of the twist and down towards the nape of the neck, taking care to keep it tight to maintain the shape of the twist. Spray the entire head with foreceful 23 super strength finishing spray, and add shine flash 02 if you want the uber glossy look from the runway. Personally, I’m afraid that look would turn greasy fast, so I might skip the shine spray. It depends on your hair texture.
Voila! Hair straight from the Paris catwalk!
images: Redken
