Time for hair to get dressed up

       Hot trends from a top hairstylist to keep you looking cool
       Top hairstylist and global hair ambassador for Pantene,Sam McKnight created four key hair looks on the international catwalks this season. McKnight's hot trends are Future Retro, Neo Knots, Rock 'n' Romance and Maximum Contrast."This is the time for hair to get dressed," said Sam McKnight."The easy, carefree looks that have dominated past seasons have given way to more considered styles that take their cue from fashion. Now, more than ever before, hair plays a pivotal role as part of the total fashion look."
       FUTURE RETRO
       This trend sees Sam McKnight paying homage to 1980s cult sci-fi movie,Bladerunner , by adding a frisson of femme fatale glamour to the hair. It shows a sleek silhouette with a clean neck and sides, and hair rolled into super-scale cartoonesque kiss curls, or made into modernist 1940s rolls.
       The key to these styles is shape and scale - with shoulder pads, complicated neckline details, masculine tailoring and non-linear silhouettes, it is essential for hair to provide the balance to the overall fashion shape.Height and control are the watchwords for these looks.
       ROCK 'N' ROMANCE
       This look is all about texture.Think of those famous groupies from the Sixties and Seventies and you get an idea of what this look is about."Think Pamela des Barres,Marianne Faithful, even Linda McCartney for this dreamy take on the girls that were 'with the band'," says Sam.
       The tousled tendrils of long hair had the appearance of nonchalance associated with those rock muses,as Chanel's romantic drifters echoed the fascination with Edwardiana that informed the original Sixties groupie look, with long dresses and lace detailing. Although the hair appeared casually unstudied, the lasting impression was of a carefully composed look.
       NEO KNOTS
       Creating knots and spikes is key to this new look. This trend has hairstylists twisting,twining and wrapping hair into a multitude of sophisticated dos.
       Tiny knots decorated the crowns of the heads with tiny wispy tails of hair left loose; a grand wrapped knot worn low on the back of the head, and messy topknots slicked back with black stretch hair bands."This season's knots are all about hidden depths," says McKnight.
       MAXIMUM CONTRAST
       This trend offers two completely contrasting finishes in one look: rough meets smooth for a sophisticated play on dual textured hair."This is about playing with differing scales," says McKnight."That combination of hair slicked close to the head,then fanned out through the lengths gives a sense of control and freedom in one hairstyle."
       The look is all about being smooth and sleek: slick, side-parted hair kept close to the head and released into a cascade of length at the back; masculine slicked side panels with the top and lengths left natural;or skull-tight slickness juxtaposed with voluminous lengths.
       Celebrity hairstylist SamMcKnight's work has regularly appeared in British Vogue and other international publications since 1980. The accolades for his work are countless. They include a three-year consecutive win in the 1990s for British Session Hairdresser of the Year. He also picked up the coveted "Venus"award in Paris and New York as well as being named Best Session Hairdresser of the Year at the UK Elle Style Awards 2002. The culmination was being named a Global Ambassador for Pantene, a title that he holds today.