FASHION NEWS AND REVIEWS

Kinky-haired girls, rejoice: Texture is back. As celebrities and designers alike embrace tresses with character, the pressure to go straight is slipping away. Beyoncé and Leighton Meester went wild at the VMAs this past weekend, while hairstylists Bob Recine and Orlando Pita created similarly raw hair backstage at Hervé Léger and Diane von Furstenberg, respectively. While, sadly, we did not make it out for MTV’s big night (catching that bizarre Kanye West-Taylor Swift infraction in person would have been day-making), we did get detailed backstage info at the shows, so even if you have super-straight strands, you can still get the look at home. For Recine, it was all about mimicking the “patchwork of fabrics” in Max Azria’s collection, so he prepped the hair with Phytolacque hairspray and created a series of braids, crimps, and curls, which he let set and then finger-combed, leaving definition in the hair. Over at Diane von Furstenberg, Orlando Pita was staunchly opposed to using any product at all. “Diane’s quote was, ‘looking back to antiquity to create flawless beauty’…and there were no products in the old days.” Instead, Pita was after the softness and airiness of virgin hair. To get it, he created five quadrants of thick braids, flat-ironed them, sent the girls over to makeup, and then took them out. Another trick we’ve had success with in the past is washing our hair at night, doing a loose French braid and sleeping on it. Go forth and experiment.