For the first time in Victoria's Secret history, many of the models will walk the runway with a hair look that closely resembles their natural texture (but not completely natural, despite some reports). "This year we're kind of focusing on enhancing everyone's natural beauty," Victoria's Secret Fashion Show hair stylist Sarah Potempa tells ELLE.com. "So we're gonna take whatever part naturally falls. We're not doing the same exact look on every girl; we're gonna do whatever works best."
Volume, shine, and the signature waves will be added to most girls' hair. Extensions will be used to amplify what's naturally there, not to create uniform long hair like in past shows. "It's really incredible, the diversity and different hair types [of the models]," Potempa says. "So the idea behind adding hair is all about just if someone needs a little bit for width, for volume, then we'll do it. But it's not so much about length and making everyone identical."
Potempa talks about how hair will be styled and how to get the look yourself below.
How do you get the look you'll be doing on most girls?
So we're starting off—even if her hair is dry, we're just doing a little bit of mousse at the root just to give it a little bit of lift.
I love mousse. I have a background in a lot of fashion editorial where you change looks every couple of hours and what's nice about mousse [especially]...a flexible mousse that has a conditioner in it...[is] it's just gonna sort of reactivate the hair without wetting it down. It's a quick way to add a little bit of volume.
Then what you want to do here is just blow-dry up. It's a tiny bit of product, but it will give you all of this volume.
How much mousse are you using? Are you putting it only on the top layer?
Yeah, just a little bit of it. A golf-ball-size [amount] is perfect. You just want a little bit that's just right here at the root.
So then what we're going to do is section the hair. We're going to split it down the middle and treat it as the left and the right. So the idea of this here is that we kind of want a healthier, shinier wave.
This is the Beach Waver Pro 1.25, and the one with the Swarovski crystals is available at Nordstrom; it's an exclusive. What we're doing here is taking the iron, you're going to hold it upright, there's a little clamp on the bottom, and then you control it, and it's going to rotate based on the side you're curling.
We're only holding it for 3 to 4 seconds. We're leaving the ends out, which is actually really important. You can see how beautiful that wave is, and the key to making it last is to not touch it. You want to really let it cool, and then we're going to go through and curl all of the hair. I know you guys all want to instantly touch it and brush it, but leaving it is actually going to allow it to stay.
Are you alternating sizes? I see you're using different widths of the Beach Waver.
Yes, so there are actually three different sizes, and it's really based on the girl's hair type and how it lays. This year we want a more defined, a little bit shinier, voluminous wave, so it's more about a shiny definition this year, versus a super beachy texture.
Besides hairspray for finishing, what other products do you use?
I definitely go for a very flexible hairspray. That's my number one because when you're styling so many girls with so many different hair types, I love to still be able to touch the hair. I also love a bit of cream on the ends. In previous years we used more of a texture spray, but this year it's going to be more about that definition at the ends. So it's all about hairspray, cream, and a little bit of pomade at the ends.
So why this season is it shinier, more defined wave versus beach waves?
I think the idea that we are in Paris—there's a little bit more of a sophisticated feel, you know? A little more polished, a little less beachy, a little less wild. Just something that feels carefree but also really healthy. I feel just in general in hair trends right now it's all about using heat protectant, smoothing, getting a keratin treatment or getting something to kind of create that more polished, healthy look.
You're very strategic about what hair you curl and in which direction. You're almost contouring with hair.
Absolutely. It's all about structure. What we're doing—we've switched to the left side so we're not selecting 'L' on this one. The idea of this wave is that we're always going away from your face, so if you go towards your face you get banana curls, like ringlets. This is how you create that Victoria's Secret wave. It's all about curling away from your face.
I saw a table of extensions.
Yeah. We have a lot of different girls cast this year. It's really incredible the diversity and different hair types and everything, so the idea behind adding hair is all about just if someone needs a little bit for width, for volume, then we'll do it. But it's not so much about length and making everyone identical.
How do you test it? Do you have to see how aerodynamic it is?
Yeah. So what we're going to do during this test—right now we've got a bunch of the models here and we're trying the look on everybody and then they're actually going to go out on the runway. We're going to go and look at how it looks on camera. So there are tons of different hair types and different hair textures, so we're gonna sit with the team and also the makeup. So you've got the full hair and makeup look and, you know, it's like anything, but what's so enhanced and different about this show than another traditional fashion show is that usually the hair and makeup trial is done in a little conference room quickly and they're like, 'Okay, good. You got it.' This is really all about how it's going to look when they're walking. It's just such an incredible production.
How do you make this last? If you're going to sleep on this, what do you do?
So if you're going to sleep on this, there are a couple different things you could do, but my number one thing would be to take your hair, twist it away from your face into either one bun up here and one bun there. You know, like the double buns. Twist it all away in one little bun and hold with a bobby pin and then you're going to get a really set structure at night, so when you take them out they're still going in the right direction.
With all the girls we're going to ask them, "Which part works for you? Is it more center? Is it more side?" And they end up flipping it when they get up on the runway, so that's really important too—to kind of work with the girls, see what naturally is going to be the best on them.
Is there a trick for finding your most flattering parting?
Yeah. I love to sort of just loosely blow-dry your hair, flip it up a couple of times kind of how we did in the beginning, just getting it loosened up by flipping it, and let it fall.
And it doesn't have to be perfect, using a rat-tail comb or something like that?
No, unless you're going to do a look that's intentional like a center part, then you want to, you know, do a certain thing. But one thing I do say if you find trouble with your part, look at the arch in your eyebrow. If you want a side part, take that arch in your eyebrow and go straight back. That's a great frame for the side part. But if you are going to do the middle, you want to look up and follow your nose all the way up.
So last thing we're going to do is that trick again: spraying your brush. This is the [Beachwaver] On Set Styling brush. It's a nylon–boar bristle mix and it makes a huge difference when you're finishing the look. You don't want to use a paddle brush or a Denman or anything that's going to add frizz. This combination kind of tames it. Take your flexible hairspray and spray it directly on and then you're going to take these waves—they're still kind of curled—take them and smooth them out. We're taking them and bringing them all in the same direction to get a more polished wave.
