“She’s a suburban housewife who’s a little off, a little quirky,” relates Wella color ambassador Aura Friedman backstage at Peter Som’s Fall 2011 show. Friedman spent hours matching hair wefts to the models’ natural hair color—but the hitch was that the weft needed to be two shades lighter than the models’ own tresses. From there she crafted what she calls a “shadow” on the wefts—a slightly darkened root that matched the true hair color, and gives that all-too-coveted ombré effect. “This woman doesn’t have time to have her color done,” she notes of the lived-in feel. She explains that the design finds its roots in “wild femininity—like an urban Mad Max,” but also in Wella’s 2011 Trend Vision trend “Glamazon.” “The ombré effect isn’t too extreme, and we were able to kind of give it this diffused look by using Color Touch in Clear, which is sort of like when you white-wash something; you add white to the paint to ‘wash’ the look. Here, we added Clear.”
The style, a ’60s bouffant that is unraveling, is a nod to Tippi Hedren in the Alfred Hitchcock film The Birds. “Tippi was really elegant, yet tough,” says Wella lead stylist Eugene Souleiman. “And this isn’t too perfect. It’s deconstructed and organic, with a really different texture to it.” The texture comes about from Wella’s new Ocean Spritz from the Style line. “We’re blasting the hair with it to give it guts!” Souleiman exclaims. Of the root-y color that Friedman created, Souleiman remarks, “it really gives this style depth. There’s no sharp line. It’s just really gorgeous.” Agreed. —Karie L. Frost
