Rockabilly Hair Gone Sci Fi at CZAR by Cesar Galindo AW14 Show
Remember the exaggerated, combed-back, über teased, wet-looking quiffs and pompadours sported by Danny Zuko and the Thunderbirds in Grease? Or, for that matter, those donned by Elvis, Ritchie Valens, and Johnny Cash in the 1950s? Well, at the CZAR by Cesar Galindo Fall/Winter 2014 show, models wore their hair in a way that evoked the masculine ‘dos popularized during the rockabilly era. O&M Creative Director Janelle Chaplin created the look for the show, brushing models’ manes back and amping up the volume at the crown while slicking the sides, creating a square-ish shape.
Though the silhouette of this hair look has nostalgic touches, the lack of clichéd (however charming) rockabilly styling elements — think victory rolls — rescued it from being too on-the-nose in its celebration of a past era. By coloring patches of hair, meanwhile, Chaplin thrust into another dimension, giving it a science fiction flavor and creating an interesting push-and-pull between the past and the future.
To create the look, Chaplin started by spritzing the O&M Rootalicious Root Lift Spray all over models’ dry strands, working it from the roots to the ends so as to increase volume. Next, she blow dried their manes using a paddle brush, pulling the hair backwards from the hairline. Once hair was dry, she added height at the crown by teasing the hair along the middle layer of this section using a fine-tooth comb and then brushing the top layer of hair in this same section backwards, smoothing it over so as to hide the teases strands while retaining the height. To give the sides a wet look and create more of a square shape, she used a combination of the O&M Style Guru Styling Cream and the O&M Frizzy Logic Shine Serum, rubbing the two in between her palms before pressing her palms against the sides to create the desired tapered effect. To complete the slightly off-kilter silhouette, she sectioned the hair in the back horizontally and secured the lower portion of the tape with a single strip of easy-to-remove masking tape, brushing the top portion of hair over the tape until it was completely concealed. To give the look staying power, she spritzed the hair with the O&M Original Queenie Firm Hold Hairspray.
Last, to create the bold streaks of colors along the sides, meanwhile, Caplan rubbed Holi powder (essentially, richly pigmented colored cornstarch like that thrown about during Color Runs) in vibrant shades of teal blue or deep purple along these sleeked-back patches of hair. Now that’s greased lightning!
