Originally featured on The Real Runway Beauty Focus February 29th 2012
It's a lazy Tuesday morning, and I'm taking a brain-vacation on the Daily Fail (don't even try and tell me you don't do the same on a caffeine-low) and amongst the it-girls, soap stars and Kardashians my eye is drawn to Thandie Newton. Always stays safe on the red carpet Thandie Newton. Flawless skin Thandie Newton. Elfin beauty Thandie Newton. yeah…sure. As I begin to read the oh-so-subtley worded right-up, my fashion ears prick up, and I notice yet another example of a hair trend I've been noticing more than ever recently- the natural fro. Thandie has given up the chemical straighteners so her daughters don't feel pressured or ashamed of their natural curls, and to set the example that natural is better. Firstly…that is hella cute. Secondly, babes…fro's are seriously in right now, what an excellently well-timed act of altruism.
Solange Knowles; my favourite human being.
Whilst plodding the streets around fashion week, I couldn't help notice that the fro was out in force (its something I would notice, as I myself sport a do something akin to Scary Spice circa 1997) and not just on the street; some of the most influential fashion darlings of the moment are getting in on the action.
My immediate reference point to this would be Solange Knowles; DJ, model and sister to Patron Saint Beyonce, she's definitely one of fashion's current obsessions. Sitting front row at fashion weeks, and the front pages of magazines, her eclectic aesthetic, and expert execution of the 'print block' makes her a favourite with the fashion pack. And her fro is now exception. Moving away from the lace-front route of most black women in fashion, Solange cut it short and started again, and now has an ample eau natural fro to show for it. The results hark back to the 60's and 70's, compliments bright colours and a mixture of prints; everything that fashion's going crazy for right now.
Another fro-conoseiur, and street-style photographer favourite is Wonderland magazine editor Julia Sarr-Jamois. Her colours are always bright, her mane slightly more untamed than knowles' or Newton's and her voice, decidedly fashion forward. Jamois isn't a popstar or an actress, she's knows her shit, she's a cross-section of the 'fashion woman'. This works to show that the fashion industry is going to take reference from within, and the black woman makes up a tangible, influential and aesthetically rich part of the industry, it's no wonder the hair is getting bigger. We saw Meadham Kirchoff's quaffed luminous fro's sauntering down the runway last season and every editorial seems to be brimming with curly locks; this all has to come from somewhere.
As the afro crops up more and more on the street, the runway and the magazines, it kind of warms my heart that Thandie is showing her daughters to embrace their curls, (it's not always the easiest thing to do in the awkward years) After all the hairstyle crosses trends, race and gender and symbolises something decidedly fun about personal style.
I'll end with a sentence I mostly regard with disgust and cringeworthy aversion when it gets used in fashion; but with regards to this style, I feel like it works: "If you've got it, flaunt it."
