The Rise of the Bouffant – Suzanne Wexler

**Photos by John Mahony of the Montreal Gazette

MONTREAL – Walking around the ABA (Allied Beauty Association) hair show this week felt a lot like traipsing through a Tim Burton film set. Wayward crinkled curls, offset to one side, with green and blue extensions poking out, echoed looks from characters in Edward Scissorhands and Burton’s version of Alice in Wonderland.

If that sounds frightening, it wasn’t (necessarily) the case: the point of the look was to emphasize texture — one of the biggest themes at this year’s Palais des Congrès event, where manufacturers and distributors of professional beauty care products presented their latest innovations and techniques to Quebec stylists and industry insiders.

Some hair teams, like the one at Redken, took the theme in a more runway-friendly direction, presenting stunning beehives and bouffants reminiscent of the 1950s and ’60s. The final impression was glamorous and fashion forward, just the right mix for Redken hair model Pascale Hamel to declare “I love it,” about her updo, streaked with blue. “I think I’m going to wear it to work tomorrow.” (She works at Labatt.)

On the Australian Bangstyle stage floor, edgy sideswipes — asymmetrical looks were extremely popular at this year’s ABA — were presented alongside ’30s-style Marlene Dietrich tight curls, along with wavy strawberry blond locks cut with blunt bangs. These looks emphasized the point that the latest textured hairstyles could be bold and structured, crimped or curled, or gently tousled.

Here are a few must-dos from the show:

Paris Fashion Week from Elle.com

Textured bouffants

At Redken, bouffants were revived and reinterpreted.

Sean Godard, a Redken international performing artist, created one of the sharpest looks. It featured a smoothed-over beehive with an off-kilter French twist and was modelled by Marie Breton. The look was inspired by the Louis Vuitton Spring 2013 collection. “In the past it would have been very rigid and dated — and structured. Just by loosening it up a little bit, and changing the volume, changing the parting, makes it modern and more current,” Godard said.

Eve Champagne, a Redken hair artist at the ABA event, created softer bouffants, including the one for Hamel, where she wove blue and purple extensions through a mesh layer. For Alexandra Decterov, Champagne sculpted a soft, almost undone updo fastened with a red flower, again using texture and colour together “to give a little edge,” she explained.

As for the revived bouffant look itself, Terry Ritcey, national education director for Redken, says it’s all about rediscovering glamour.

Product: To hold those updos, Godard and Champagne use Redken Control Addict 28 ($18.59), a new ultra-firm hairspray introduced by the brand.

Asymmetric hair

Many hairdos at ABA were set to one side, creating a fresh impression that was just slightly askew. According to Marilyne Roi, a hairstylist with Bangstyle, the edgiest lopsided looks appear on short, loose locks. “To really exploit asymmetry to the maximum is to do it on short hair,” she said. Short hair easily lends itself to texturing clays and gels, she said, and can be shaped into more dramatic lines. At Bangstyle, the look came alive on Vicky Lemay, who was shown with shoulder-length candy apple red hair set to one side.

Roi said asymmetrical looks are very stylized and add tons of character, and are best suited for bold women.

And for the men

Men’s hair is less about trends, and more about a “one size fits one” mentality, according to Kurt Kueffner, who along with one of the creators of American Crew, developed the sleek new barbershop line Mensdept. “I think there’s a sentiment that it needs to be appropriate, timely, but it also needs to work with their hair type and their head shape,” he said. That being said, Kueffner does see some global trends: “I think any semblance of the faux hawk, Mohawk from the early 2000s hair is gone. You’re not seeing as much spiky hair or overdone hair,” he said. Now, men’s hair is a little more contained, accountable. “There’s more parts, there’s more shine, and there’s more healthy hair.” Kueffner believes Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire, and even actors like Daniel Day Lewis helped pave the way for this look.