Tend Forecast:: Plumage Look

I come from a workshop on future trends on hair & beauty - a think tank of creative ideas based on societal changes, current styles and future developments. This is the first principle I learnt: everything, no matter how artistic, commercial, free style or shallow it is, is rooted in our cultural reality and informed by our present. The past is constantly renewed and adapted to meet the evolving needs lying under the fabolous world of fashion. This made me come to conclusion that an enduring trend must always be supported by a strong and timeless style. Fashion is not just about seasonal trends, it is about sophistication, pleasure, delight, stardom and sensuality which can be achieved in multiple tasteful and subtle manners. We can perhaps dare to say that it's the end of the total look!

Back in the room we looked at the most avanguarde designers and scanned through the many pictures we had collected in the arch of three weeks {I, alone, must have sourced over 600 images}. We cherry picked the most intriguing photos with plenty of potential. We explored the qualities, behaviours and rituals behind each proposed idea (be it a trend, new product or service), labelled each and every style with a capturing title and brainstormed cunning associations to moods and feelings, cultural and literature references, and analogies with the natural world. For a few hours we pretended to be  trend-setters, and came up with many cool ideas, amongst which the development of the PLUMAGE LOOK. Feather head bands or fascinators will (almost completely) replace hair. Hair will become feather. The feathered hairstyle will be applied to shorter cuts for a layered, textured and asymmetrical effect. The more we elaborated this idea, the more my excitement grew. 

The analogy to Hitchcock Birds sprang natural to my mind as a metaphor of the scary and uncertain times we live in, constantly haunted by new illnesses, new conflicts, new anxieties. But this is also a very sophisticated look exuding nostalgia for the past glamour, revisited for the new (urban) generation, adaptable and versatile. Moreover, from this look it transpires a desire to recognise ourselves as organic beings closer to the natural world and our primordial origins - feathers were worn by native American chiefs to symbolise their communication with spirit, and express their celestial wisdom. They are still heavily used in tribal cultures across the globe. 

Below some cues of some interesting styles with potential:

 

 

 Photos: Ali MacGraw by Getty Images, Eva's photos by Sartorialist, The Birds (BFI monograph) by Camille Paglia, Jennifer Behr Head Bands, Givency Black sandals, Shu Uemura False Eyelashes, , pink headband by ASOS, cage photo by Jamel Toppin for The New York Times