LEANNE BROWN, EDUCATION DIRECTOR, WESTROW ARTISTIC TEAM, AND FORMER WINNER OF THE L’OREAL COLOUR TROPHY MEN’S IMAGE AWARD,REVEALS THE TOP THREE MEN’S TRENDS FOR SPRING/SUMMER 2018
LONG & LOOSE
Long hair has been popular for a few seasons, but men who’ve been growing their locks and tying it back, take note: the ‘man bun’ has fallen out of fashion’s favour for next season: I didn’t spy a single one at the Spring/ Summer ‘18 menswear shows. Instead, hair was worn long, loose, grungy and slightly kinked, inspired by Eighties’ clubbers and grungy Nineties’ skater culture. At E.Tautz the Eighties’ ‘shag’ was reimagined, worn shoulder length and textured, while at N. P Elliot long hair was worn with a Nineties’-esque centre parting and naturally kinky, brushing over the shoulders. To recreate this look, part hair down the middle and use a texture spray on damp hair, before drying, styling hair with fingers as you go. If you’ve grown your hair only to find that these trends are slightly too messy for the workplace, then take your styling inspo from Oliver Sonne, male model of the moment and Loewe’s most recent campaign face. The Danish model is known for his shoulder-skimming locks, which are always on the right side of kinked and immensely glossy. His look is a great example of how longer locks can still look smart and sophisticated.
Products Sexy Hair
Styling Westrow
Photography Paul Gill
CURLS WORLD
If you’ve been blessed with naturally curly locks then this is definitely your season. Both short and mid-length curly styles were embraced at various SS18 shows, most notably at Cottweiler and Dries Van Noten, where models’ own ringlets were encouraged and styled to look very undone and natural. Grow naturally curly hair so that it’s eyelash skimming and add layers to boost and highlight your natural ringlets. To keep the look on-trend, let hair fall over the face, pulling curls forward over the forehead. This isn’t about a structured curl, it’s about a head full of untamed curls that look loose and wild, so it’s really only a look that you should try out if your hair is already curly: attempting to curl it with a curling tong would look too try-hard and the curls would end up too uniform.
Products Sexy Hair
Styling Westrow
Photography Paul Gill
IN FRONT OF THE EARS
This trend is very polarising, fairly daring and certainly isn’t one for wallflowers, but it’s an interesting look – and surprisingly easy to achieve – so it’s worth a mention. At Alexander McQueen’s SS18 show, models wore jaw-length cuts, with one standout, defining feature: hair was slicked both behind the ear, and tucked in front, gelled very neatly into place. Interestingly, this is a style that crosses over into women’s style trends for next season (Prada’s female models sported a similar look) highlighting what a gender-neutral style it actually is. The look is very sculptured, slick and tidy, and actually has a sophisticated quality to it, so I predict that it will translate well into real-life, perhaps replacing the slicked-back preppy styles that are traditionally worn behind the ears. It works better on straighter hair, as it retains that neat quality, so if hair is wavy or curly, avoid. A strong wet-look gel is the only styling product this look requires, so it is pretty low-maintenance.