If you want to stick with your thin and straight long hair or your slender, delicate shorter cut, you will soon be out of fashion. Fluffy hair is in for the spring and summer seasons, and it's to be worn with clothes of "luxury vintage" or the whimsical "sweet and dolly" styles.
Dior is spreading the sweet or dolly-girl look into magazines and boutiques while Louis Vuitton is advocating luxury vintage apparel. These styles emphasize more expressive designs, such as falbalas sleeves, round collars, geometrical patterns and circles.
To go with the bright and complex styles in clothing, hair will have to be a little more introverted, a little less flowery.
Hair color will be darker, too, said Eric Chen (陳捷生) from Taipei's Genic Salon. "If you have a hair style with too complex lines or too bright colors, it will be too flowery and your entire look will be out of focus," he said.
"In the world of fashion, hair styles always seem to follow behind clothing and cosmetics. It is more of a supporting role for your entire image but it's a very important supporting role. If you have hair that doesn't fit your style, you may feel depressed for a whole week," Chen said.
For example, Chen said, hair will tend to be cut thicker this spring and summer, and the lines will be more solid and clear-cut. There will not be thin, tassel-like ends. The ends will be cut evenly and horizontally, instead of layered with softer lines.
Chen said bob cuts will still be hip. "Basically, we want to give more volume to the hair so that there can be more playful lines in the clothing and cosmetics," he said.
But that is not to say that your hair should be thick and heavy like the voluminous 1970s styles. The new thick style is achieved by cutting the hair thinner from the inside, leaving the harder lines for the outside. With this cut, a well-defined shape is maintained.
Fluffy, curly hair is also in this spring and summer. This is good news for those of you with thick, naturally curly hair: no need to spend money on straightening techniques anymore. With a little adjustment you can keep a natural and trendy hair style.
"Natural gracefulness and wispiness is emphasized for curly hair this year," said Chen. At Versace and Michael Kors' spring fashion shows, models strutted down the catwalks with thick and fluffy curly hair. From last December to early January, celebrities including Kylie Minogue and Angelina Jolie were already showing off their curls in public.
Genic Salon recently presented a new perm technique called "bio-tech perm," a method developed in Japan using high temperatures to change the molecular structure of hair in order to change the shape of it. Originally the technique was used to straighten natural curly hair. Now it's been advanced to make hair curl to your desired waviness.
But the new perm technique is suitable only for thicker and darker locks generally found in Asian, Arabic or Southern European people. "The high temperature will seriously damage the thinner blonde hair," Chen said.
Among the dark colors emphasized this season, purple -- a neutral and mysterious color -- is again favored by designers. Both Chen and Faye Lee (李貴妃) from Happy Hair (快樂髮型) suggested a dye job of multiple colors that go with purple.
"Purple with orange, purple with bronze and a little bit of orange, or dark red with a highlight of purple are all mainstream colors for this year's spring and summer hair. The point is to let the colors stand out -- but not in too bright or too dazzling colors that would take away the loudness of your clothes," Lee said.
The use of color may be darker and more conservative but maintaining the richness and the glossy texture of the hair is emphasized, as usual. In other words, Lee said, elevate the quality of your hair while coloring.
"We call the new concept of coloring ``nourishing make-up for the hair," she said.
This tactic is a semi-permanent coloring that does less harm to hair than former methods, and the colors last for about 15 to 20 washings, according to Lee.
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