Knots and updos are a familiar fix for hair, but it wasn’t until last New Zealand Fashion Week that we cottoned onto the swim knot (pictured above). With its off-beat elegance and wet-look finish, this sounds like a summer styling solution to us, so we went back to stylist Lauren Gunn for some advice on how to recreate her Hailwood show look (pictured above) at home.
Gunn says the style combines two hair classics, a messy knot with a french chignon. The idea was that Hailwood’s girl could move effortlessly from a casual dip on a yacht to an A-list red carpet event without batting an eye. If that sounds like you, here’s how.
1. Begin with freshly washed, towel dried hair.
2. Prepare hair with a lasting wet-look texture by layering in generous amounts of gel wax section by section from roots to ends. (Gunn recommends Goldwell's Chrystal Turn Gel Wax).
3. Style by carving out a rectangular section of hair along a low side part and down to behind the ear. Take all the remaining hair and rake it back into a messy knot at the back of your head using an elastic band. Comb through the loose side panel, wrap it over the knot and roll it into a French chignon, securing with bobby pins.
4. Finish by illuminating the look with a lavish finishing spray all over (Try Goldwell's Sleek Perfection Thermal Serum all over).
Note: Leave tufts of hair free in both the knot and the chignon to achieve a more casual vibe.
