GROOMING TENDS FOR AW12/13

After many designers presented a polished, gentlemanly style on the catwalks of Milan and Paris, Autumn/Winter 2012 is being popularly hailed the ‘season of the suit’ for menswear. From the immaculate and pristine collection shown at Hermes, to the extravagantly studded and padded British punk look at Thom Browne, this underlying theme of refined, suited styles with precision tailoring stood to unify many of the shows that followed.

The return to a gentlemanly way of dressing has brought about a gentlemanly attitude, demeanor and style of grooming, too. The procession of suit wearing, slick and sophisticated models were finished with refined hairstyles including slicked back undercuts, streamlined lacquered quiffs and clean side-partings. The hair at Missoni, Yves Saint Laurent and Kris Van Assche was styled into immaculately parted, wet-look styles that were flattened to the head creating a clean, streamlined shape. These are grooming trends have been building for seasons, but for Autumn/Winter 2012 the gelled styles have developed to include more contemporary elements.

The use of visible styling products is a key development that made a bold statement in the hairstyles of Milan and Paris, creating an obviously groomed, unashamedly preened aesthetic. At Louis Vuitton, hair was gelled flat against the head in a glossy, wet style whilst at Bill Tornade the cuts were side-parted and lacquered to a high shine. The resulting forms were sharp, immaculately shaped and felt very stylized, in some ways robotic, due to the modern and mechanized look. This mirrored the emerging focus on new fabrications within menswear clothing for this season; smooth textures were contributed by directional leather and plasticized inserts in many of the Milan and Paris shows from dense, futuristic suits at Mugler to head-to-toe robust leather at Jil Sander. These high-shine, glossy surfaces were emulated by the synthetic appearance of the hair styling products; a look that is set to remain prominent in the approaching London shows.

Another recurring theme in the clothing this season so far has been the volume contributed by panels of fur, seen at Damir Doma, Marni at Viktor & Rolf, offering a softer component but also creating a thick, broad silhouette. This textural element was replicated in the hair styling at Dries Van Noten where short, neat cuts were finished with long, tousled, slightly waved fringes.

There is a shift towards adaptations of these fringed styles, and the most interesting grooming details are working around the front of the hairline to frame the face and add an interesting element to haircuts that remain clean and precise towards the back and sides. Quiffs and forties style waves added variation at Wooyoungmi and Viktor & Rolf, giving not only shape and texture but also a sense of heritage and the traditional, linking with the styles of tailoring on display. These looks were also product-heavy, set firmly in crisp shapes continuing the synthetic feeling.

Raf Simons experimented with a more exaggerated vision of a dramatically fringed style, with brightly coloured hair falling to chin-length, obscuring the models faces. Ombre faded colouring and dip-dyed ends have been prominent within women’s styling in recent seasons, and this now looks set to extend fearlessly into the emerging male grooming trends too.  These bold and playful elements have brought a sense of youth and nonchalance to the overall menswear characteristic this season, adding a cool and understated element to collections that have otherwise remained formal and refined in tone.  This will undoubtedly sit well with the laid-back luxe of London menswear design, where the focus will expectedly be on innovation of fabrications, silhouettes and proportions within the clothing design, but also with imaginative use of grooming products and inventive, directional hair styling.

Image source: Style.com, Now Fashion