Huffington Post: Gina Rivera on Breakaway Hair Styles from Fashion Week

So far, I’m seeing a lot of what I expected.

Hair at New York Fashion Week has been beautiful but fairly low-key overall, leaving the catwalks to the clothes. The big four Fashion Weeks, with New York followed by London, Milan and Paris, are primarily about apparel design, but hairstyle is an essential element of the whole look and it’s all definitely worth following for the hair.

I am not seeing as many hair accessories as in past Fashion Weeks, at least not so far. What I have seen that I love are styles that use a braid or twist as the accessory. This is pretty subtle stuff but it’s lovely and follows the very strong trend we’re in toward natural colors and simpler, more natural cuts. Altuzarra did this with parts down the middle, sort of a retro look, but then with waves gathered under a long, soft twist.

Seems that we’re seeing some curl coming back, but ever so quietly, reminding me of a late 70s, 80s touch with waves taking on a really soft, crimped look in some of the hairstyles, a departure from the big beachy waves we’ve seen in recent summers.

A lot of the hair also had a carefree, easy look. Carolina Herrera and Tommy Hilfiger went with center parts in very natural, no-fuss styles. Jason Wu went with a slick-back wet look gathered in twists and buns to go with his designs. This slick-back style goes with a lot of different looks and it’s a favorite on the runways.

I’m seeing little in the way of avant garde cuts and colors. On some red carpets in recent months we’ve seen some silver-gray hair with soft, blended tones of blue and fuchsia but nothing like that dominating the runways in New York. Hair colors remained natural and the transitions were very subtle.

It will be interesting to see what a change of venue brings. We’ve got a couple more days of NY Fashion Week then it’s off to London, then Milan and the traditional finish in Paris.

As always, be open to change!