For Dauphinette’s Spring 2024 show titled “Gods, Girls, and Monsters,” designer Olivia Cheng invited us to explore the concept of protection through several tangible and spiritual forms. With her latest collection, Cheng gave special attention to the idea of death, but never in a way that attempted to glamorize or decorate it. Instead, she used it as the lens to which she examined different aspects of human and animal life, such as religion, marriage, masculinity, and physical extremities.
It’s with this understanding that she presented a range of beautifully crafted, upcycled garments that paid homage to the “little deaths” that we experience in our wonderfully chaotic everyday lives that can often make one feel like a god, a girl, or a monster—or all three at the same time. As Cheng said it herself, “A god, a girl, a monster—within the single span of most days I manage to feel like all three.”
With 25 living artworks, Dauphinette’s most recent collection was filled with larger-than-life silhouettes that were embellished with vintage embellishments and beads, broken jewelry, collected seashells, upcycled crystals, quilt scraps, googly eyes, and even wig hair. Many of the looks, like the plastic matchbook shift dress and lampshade mini dresses, provided a sartorial feast for the eyes of guests.
Heavenly, Rough, and Dystopic Hair
To bring Cheng’s beautiful vision for the collection to life, Oribe’s Principal Artist of Global Content Mandee Tauber was tasked with creating several distinct hair looks that felt “heavenly, rough, and dystopic.” Using all Oribe products, Tauber and her team crafted hairstyles that were just as eclectic as the designs in the collection, from sculptural braided updos and grunge waves to wet looks and beautiful afros.
Speaking on the very individualized hair looks for the runway show, Tauber said, “We have some braided styles that are a little avant garde and there’s some wet looks, a lot of grunge, and some pops of color with these beautiful hair extensions that we put in that are lime green and chartreuse; there are some dusty blues that are really beautiful, kind of like denim.”
As Cheng’s collection had a strong running theme of protection, Tauber made sure to carry the concept over to the hair looks as well.
“Olivia’s inspiration for this season is all about protection, so there’s a lot of inspiration from porcupine quills and from sea urchin spines. It’s a lot of animals that are protected in the same way and it could also go in a spiritual way. I loved the idea of it and so I created some basket weaves that almost look like spines to add an element to tie into everything,” she explained. “She also used a lot of recycled materials—like 50% of the collection is from recycled materials, whether it’s pearls or even hair. We had extra hair pieces that I colored, so she actually recycled them and used them for shoes. So there are elements of hair on hats and hair on shoes which is really fun.”
Get the Look: Grunge Waves
- First, prep the hair from roots to ends with Maximista Thickening Spray.
- Next, using a one-inch barreled Marcel Curling Iron, begin curling the hair section by section away from the face, leaving about an inch of hair at the end out of the clamp to create more natural and lived-in waves.
- Use setting clips to set the wave into place to condense shape.
- Once the entire head is curled, remove setting clips and apply Aprés Beach Wave and Shine Spray from roots to end to give definition and texture.
If you recreate this hairstyle for your next clients, or for yourself at home, be sure to tag @readthetease on Instagram.
