October 4, 2008

a braid for all seasons

Braids hanging down one's back are simple and pretty enough, but wound around the head they turn a milkmaid into a queen.

images (clockwise, starting upper left): Toast home catalogue fall '08, a mess of braids from glamour.com, Bottega Veneta fall '07 (via), Jackson, Johnstone, & Roe spring '08, spaceheaters, Vogue Italy February '08 (as if models could wield a saw), and alibosworth

I've loved this look for a long time, but I've never got it to work for me. My hair's too thick for a thin plait wrapped flat around my head, and the visual effect of a French braid is lost against my dark hair. Lately, though, I've gotten good results with two reverse French braids on either side then twisted into a bun, kind of like the Italian Vogue photo above.


Braiding links:

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oooh! I love all these ideas and inspiraton (and thanks for all the links too--the Dreamweaver site is so tempting with all the possibilities!). Lately I've been itching to do some braided styles, so this was perfect, fashion-inspiration timing!

Your hair looks so gorgeous, btw! :)

fröken lila said...

these pictures are so inspiring! i never really know what to do with my long hair, so i usually just put it up in a loose bun, but i never thought of doing braids before, apart from the normal long one hanging down the back. thank you so much for sharing this!!

i also wanted to thank you for your comment on my post on ibsen's "Brand". i actually cannot really imagine that theatre in the u.s. is so much different from europe. i mean, all those fancy modernist interesting set ups of plays are mostly done by the greatest theatres in the large cities, whereas most theatres in smaller towns treat the plays rather traditionally, or in a realist way.
i have seen four different ibsen plays now, one in berlin, one in hamburg and two in oslo, all of which were very innovative, so i'd actually like to see a more traditional treatment once...

Anna McClurg said...

i love the collage! i'm totally digging the braided look these year. and thank you for the mention on my blog. :)

btw, i'm sorry i never got around to replying to your comment on my blog regarding chicago! i fully intended to, but life has been crazy. but we'll definitely have to hook up when i'm in chicago again and we can do some major fabric shopping! i found out i can take the train (it's about an hour and a half from here) and it would take me to chicago. so i might try that route sometime!

alyson. said...

oh these are great!! I always think that my hair is too thin to create these lovely braided styles. I usually run out of hair before I'm at the bottom of a french braid or any other style of braid! great links!

Christy said...

Ooooh....inspiration. Thanks for the pictures. My one consolation for having thin straight hair is that it braids very nicely.