Designers' weird obsession with hair becomes a trend
The blurred boundary between fashion and fetish, creativity goes wild
G-Club
July 21st, 2023
July 21st, 2023
Sequins, embroidery, rhinestone or, for a flamboyant look, feathers. Have you ever thought of using hair to decorate a dress? It's not a joke, it's a form of creative expression and on social media it has all the elements to become a new trend.
We spend many hours in front of the mirror taking care of our hair, which is an essential part of our self-confidence, but when we see it outside its natural context, it instinctively makes an impression on us. We want to analyse the phenomenon of the hair mania to understand how it has inspired designers. We will take a tour through the archives of fashion houses to discover the craziest forms of creativity.
@ibskitten I luv my margiela hair necklace #ootd #maisonmargiela #fyp оригінальний звук -
Hair in fashion between horror and genius
Whether you like or find it disgusting, it certainly attracts our attention in a morbid way. The hair mania first caught the most avant-garde designers and then reached an audience of fashion addicts. Fashion flirts with fetish and produces objects that, in order to survive, must be considered a 'design piece' rather than an actual wearable product.
The use of hair in the collections does not only mean absurdity as an end in itself or mere provocation, but also playing with social norms, evoking feelings or, more simply, implementing an aesthetic inspiration that suits the brand.
Hair mania in the history of fashion
Unconventional, aspirational and even conformist. The controversial fascination with hair accessories has conquered more designers than we can imagine. The hair craze is a phenomenon that emerged mainly around the turn of the 90s and early 2000s, decades of avant-garde and experimental fashion. Here are the most interesting examples.
Maison Margiela - from accessories to a themed collection
Martin Margiela was a pioneer in the use of hair, which were introduced in his collections in the 1990s. An emblematic example is the necklace with attached curls, first seen on the catwalk FW in 1994. All the way to SS 2009, the fashion house's 20th anniversary, where models walk the catwalk with their hair upside down. The highlight is the majestic "Total Hair" coat, made from recycled theatre wigs, which has been added to the permanent collection of the MET.
Helmut Lang and the FW 2004
This is the penultimate collection by Lang, a designer who knew how to deal with the power of fetish. The element of hair, which in this case comes from the mane of horses, is declined as fringes for sandals, as appliqués for dresses and look at the tails sprouting from shoes!
Hair as a trademark of Alexander McQueen
In his early collections, McQueen sewed labels, onto the inside of his dresses, that consisted of a plastic sleeve with a lock of hair, sometimes his own. Certainly a way to sign a creation with his own DNA.
Undercover's SS 2005
Jun Takahashi develops the concept of folk and inserts various more or less visible references to the human body into clothing. Hair becomes belts, necklaces or 'simple' decorations that peek out of clothes.
Sonia Rykiel's SS 2009
"A birthday without a surprise is not a birthday". With these words, Nathalie, daughter of Sonia Rykiel, announced the arrival of 30 creations by guest designers on the catwalk to mark the fashion house's 40th anniversary. Guess who the designer's coat with the red mane belongs to? Martin Margiela's.
Chalayan's hair-earrings
Photography Chloé Le Drezen
Photography Chloé Le Drezen
Photography Chloé Le Drezen
For FW 2016 collection, Hussein Chalayan combines his looks with earrings with maxi hair locks, of course in exactly the same colour as the models' curls.
Missoni's ponytails
The models' hairstyles are decorated with coloured strands of hair, a characteristic element of the SS 2014 collection.
Dior's hairstyles
High tails that appear to be interrupted by metal or resin rings. Dior's SS 2015 Couture, designed by Raf Simons, plays with the hair craze by proposing a kind of optical illusion. Très chic!
Hair in the collections of emerging designers
One designer recently conquered by hair mania is KIMHĒKIM, who dedicates his fourth collection to this concept.
This trend is not yet ready to reach the general public, it will remain tied to a niche that knows how to understand and appreciate it for a while yet. This could be an opportunity to be bold with an accessory made with hair before everyone else has it. Be mindful of ethics! When it comes to clothes, we prefer fake hair.
Accessories made with hair to purchase
Here, as always, is a little shopping guide to inspire your purchases or confirm that - yes, designers do indeed use hair in their creations.
