Best Way to Make Catwalk-Style Hair

A touch daring, a little bit sexy and utterly creative – catwalk-style hair will vamp up your image. All it takes is a little imagination and a few accessories to look like you are a regular on the runway.

Catwalk-style hair is not for the intrepid but for those who want to make a statement. Far from being practical, and like the often outlandish designer clothes we see regularly paraded down the runway, show hair represents creation without limits: it’s over the top, dramatic and often ridiculous, ‘hair-raising’ stuff. Not surprisingly, runway hairstyles have become almost as headline-grabbing as the clothes, and many a supermodel has been catapulted to superstardom thanks to her catwalk hair-do.

If you have seen any runway shots or footage from the shows with the more outrageous hair-dos, you’re probably thinking that you wouldn’t want to be seen dead with a bottle-green crop, metal spikes poking out of your hair or a feathered Mohican that looks more like a stuffed animal balanced on top of your head. But, according to innovator of hair trends and catwalk-hair maestro Sam McKnight, it is not all so over the top: ‘At Antonio Baradi, hair was outrageous, yet the same season, at Paul Smith, it was simple and unconstructed,’ says Sam, who created the hairstyles for both shows.

‘Relaxed’, ‘easy’ and ‘effortless’ are the buzz words for modern catwalk-style hair: ‘The key is to not look like you’ve tried too hard,’ says Sam, who, before deciding on the hairstyle, always takes the clothes into consideration first. ‘It’s essential that there is a theme running through the clothes and hair’, he says. ‘This is what you should aim to create at home – not a hairstyle and an outfit, but a total look.’ Before you reach for the styling brush, a versatile, precision cut by a good stylist is a vital prerequisite for catwalk-style hair. And, it goes with out saying that your tresses should be in tip top condition, so start treating them now.

Element of catwalk hair

There are certain elements of catwalk hair that work extremely well off the runway. Featured here are the main components that grace the runways season after season. So be creative and customise your hair for a stunning, catwalk-style look that is unique to you.

Prepare your hair

Sam explains how important it is to prepare your hair for a catwalk style: ‘Freshly washed hair is the most difficult to style as it is flyaway, slippery and often unmanageable. The moment I sit a model down, I prime her hair with a product that I developed as a style-starter, so the hair behaves better.’ Before you start working on your creation, use some form of styling product; Sam suggests making your own customised styling product by mixing mousse and gel, or mousse and wax, for example. Depending on your hair type, sometimes you need to use one product on the roots and a different one on the hair itself. You only ever need a tiny amount. And always go easy to begin with: you can add more if required. Don’t worry about styling products clinging to the hair – they all wash out if you rinse well.

Adorn your hair with accessories

By adorning your hair with decorative butterflies, feathers and flowers (real and fake), ribbons, scarves, bands, clips, slides, tiaras or even the letters of the alphabet, you can create your own individual hairstyle. But keep it simple: a single feather or a strategically placed Alice band, is all you need.

You’ll find hair accessories in fashion boutiques, accessory shops and department stores, but for the more unusual piece you may want to head off the beaten track. Sam scours all sorts of places, from haberdashery and bead shops to antique shops for old silk flowers, as well as gardening shops for raffia. ‘Keep your eye open for the unusual. I have stumbled across such goodies as little holographic stars and glass flowers’, enthuses Sam. ‘You could also do as I do and make your own hair accessories! One of Sam’s most innovative show-hair accessories was for a Matthew Williamson show: ‘I stuffed neon-colored hairpieces into black fishnet tights and then used them to make classic chignons! Try this one at home!

Become color crazy

Whether it be two-tone hair, bold, skunk-like, fiery stripes or neon-colored slices, runway color is often intentionally fake, as it is these bolts of brilliance that make any head of hair show-worthy. But you don’t need to dye your hair: use color mousses, hair mascara or hair powder.

Another simple way in which to achieve catwalk color is to attach colored hairpieces to your hair or to use sprays in eye-catching reds, golds and silvers. This way you can create dramatic color contrasts without damaging your hair. To customise your own hairpiece, Sam suggests dying it yourself.

Catwalk braids and ponytails

Play around with your hair: braid it in different ways or pull it back into a ponytail, letting a few tendrils slip out here and there. Utilise your own hair: secure a section of hair into a ponytail, leaving two chunks loose on either side and then wind these remaining sections around the elastic, tuck under the ends, and secure them with a grip. Alternatively, sweep hair back securing part of the hair just below your crown in a band. Now wind a band around the remainder of your hair at the nape of your neck.