As the lights dimmed in Milk Studios Sunday morning, September 7th, the illustrious crowd that had gathered to view the highly anticipated Public School Spring/Summer 2015 Men’s and Women’s Collections, were treated to an electric live performance from Twin Shadow as models began to make their way down the runway. Anna Wintour, André Leon Talley, will.i.am, Princess Deena Aljuhani Abdulaziz, Joe Jonas and Miguel were among those sitting in the front row to view the latest creations by the young brand’s designers Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne. The idea behind the collections this season was distortion. “We played with the idea of distortion and the chaotic. How do you define chaos?” mused designer Maxwell Osborne. “For Public School, our mantra has always been finding perfection in imperfection. So everything’s a little off this season.” Indeed, the garments in this season’s collections veered from the black and white palette the brand is known for and included pops of electric blue and flashes of print on futuristic silhouettes.
To make their vision come to life, the designers collaborated with top hairstylist Anthony Turner of Art Partner to create the hair looks. The main look for the women, including model Jessica Stam, was a more structured and pulled back look on top that transitioned into a natural-textured ponytail. “Since the clothes are very urban, very confident and strong, we wanted to bring that through with the hair as well,” says Anthony. “The hair was military-inspired, it’s a little bit 1950s, but it’s not too done. It’s still going to feel like New York, still downtown, still cool. For the women, the top is structured, almost masculine, while the pony is very natural, it has a feminine edge underneath. For guys, the hair is nice and flat and brought all the way back but it still has some reality to it. Very American.”
Get the Look (Women):
1. "First, I began saturating hair with René Furterer VOLUMEA volumizing conditioning spray – no rinse in sections and then brushing the product through with my hands as well as a Mason Pearson brush to create the natural texture we wanted," says Turner.
2. "Next, I took hair in sections and blew hair dry, lifting it up and away from the face, brushing it back. I also used a bit of René Furterer VOLUMEA volumizing foam – no rinse throughout blow drying.
3. "Taking a small section of hair in the front, I then crossed it over to the side from left to right, not necessarily making a strict side part, however. To create very slight height, I gently teased the section very close to the root with a comb.
4. "I then brushed hair back, making sure to keep it tighter at the sides and gathering hair to the middle of the back of the head and then securing into a ponytail with a bungee cord.
5. "Next, I sprayed the ponytail with a little water and worked through it with my hands to loosen up the hair and make it more realistic, more natural.
6. "To keep hair in place I clipped paper into hair to keep the shape of hair until the models were ready to walk.
7. "Finally, I gave hair a light misting of René Furterer VEGETAL FINISHING SPRAY for hold."
Get the Look (Men):
1. "For the men, I began by clipping hair at the sides," says Turner. "Then, using a combination of René Furterer VOLUMEA volumizing conditioning spray – no rinse and René Furterer VOLUMEA volumizing foam – no rinse to saturate hair, I took hair in sections and blew dry hair, directing it straight to the back, making hair nice and flat all the way to the top.
2. "Once the last top section was dried back, I took some René Furterer MODELING PASTE, a dry wax, and with my fingers used it to bring a little reality into the hair. I styled it as if a guy would on his own and we got all these different ridges, but I still kept everything tight on the sides.
3. "As I did with the women, I clipped paper into hair to keep the shape of hair until show time.
4. "Finally, I used René Furterer VEGETAL FINISHING SPRAY to hold everything in place."
[Photo credit: John M. Craig for René Furterer]
