This post was originally published on this site

Backstage Beauty Report

By KARI MOLVAR

The Rodarte designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy often spin a dreamy, youthful quality into their ethereal collections. At today’s spring/summer 2017 show, that vibe also came across in delicate floral hair accessories — headbands and barrettes the French hairstylist Odile Gilbert crafted from bits and pieces of silk, chiffon, crystals and sequins left over from making the garments in the collection. “It’s like being a kid in school, where you’re given materials and you have to create something,” she said, adding that the process took “a full day”: “We started at nine o’clock and finished at six.” Each piece was a one-off, in that no two were exactly alike — and Gilbert placed them into the hair with a similarly spontaneous attitude: She rubbed Wella Enrich moisturizing conditioner between her palms, and worked it through strands to add softness and texture, and misted on Stay Essential light crafting spray for grip and hold. Then she slipped headbands on the back of the models’ heads, like half-crowns, and attached barrettes in a cascading, organic pattern.

The result, Gilbert said, “is super fresh, like a girl who is doing her hair herself, without a hairdresser.” In fact, during the fitting, some of the models wanted to lend a hand with the D.I.Y. process of making the accessories. But as Sasha Belyaeva learned, mastering that beautifully, thrown-together aesthetic of the hair pieces is actually quite hard. “I started … and then I stopped because I realized, this is impossible,” she said, laughing. “I think I’m just gonna do my model job!”