When Fashion Week hits, we’re always ready to see the incoming trends from next season. Just when we’re worried pastel hair is fading out of style, a designer like Marc Jacobs reminds how good it feels to indulge in color. At Marc Jacob’s Fashion Week presentation, models stomped the runway in midcentury-inspired dresses and outrageous pastel bouffants. Here and there, a model with a rainbow-colored pixie cut appeared to steal the show.
Marc Jacobs’ pastel hair models come courtesy of Josh Wood, Redken global creative director, who calls this show “the biggest color project I’ve worked on.” Working alongside Jacobs and Guido Palau (also a Redken global creative director), Wood custom colored an astonishing 37 models in shades taken directly from the collection’s fabric swatches. The pale rainbow shades were meant to invoke a moody, work-appropriate vibe.
Marc didn’t want a ‘fun’ pastel, he wanted an aged, vintage pastel where they look like they have a history to them… like a grown-up pastel, with the help of a shadow root on each girl, which helps stop the hair from looking like a wig while keeping it modern.
Wondering why those colors look so much more multidimensional than your average pastel? The team layered multiple colors to achieve a unique layered effect. Lucky for you, that technique is undoubtedly something your stylist may be able to recreate in-salon during your next color service. Wood’s team used Redken Flash Lift with Bonder Inside to bleach models’ hair before going in with a metallic base shade from the Redken’s Shades EQ NA collection. Finally, they layered a combination of Redken Shades EQ Pastels, City Beats, Color Gels Lacquers, and Shades EQ Reds to create the models’ colors.
“Although some of the colors look like one color, if you go up close they look meshed with many colors layered, which keeps the color from looking heavy and makes it more complex. This is a color revolution,” Wood says. “There’s a fragility to it... it’s almost like color that’s there, but isn’t there, with reflects of different notes.”
Once the color was in place, it was Palau’s turn to style. The stylist credits his “quite complex” bouffants to the women of the 1960s who religiously went to the salon and rarely had a hair out of place. The idea is a stylized kind of glam and updos that can’t be done without the expertise of a professional stylist.
This is an example of taking the idea of dressing hair up to the extreme. It’s not about the technicality of the hair—it’s about keeping this hair a fantasy.
While you may have some difficulty styling this hair at home, we recommend taking inspiration from Palau’s ‘60s-inspired updos. After blowing out the models’ hair, he used Redken Wind Blown 05 Dry Texturizing Hairspray and Guts 10 Volumizing Spray Mousse while teasing the hair. To achieve the mega volume bouffants required, Palau relied on extensions and pads at the crown before finishing his styles with Fashion Work 12 for workable hold.
To appreciate the beauty of these Marc Jacobs models and their pastel dream, keep scrolling. You’ll want to save these photos for pastel inspiration later.
Copper Ponytail
Ice Blue Buzz Cut
Cotton Candy Bouffant
Reverse Braid Red Ponytail
Champagne Chignon
Lavender Accent Bob
Strawberry Buzz Cut
Ice Blue Ponytail
Rose Gold Bouffant
For personalized advice about trying pastel hair, use our salon locator to book an appointment with a stylist near you.
