Soft waves are about as synonymous with the Victoria's Secret show as angel wings. But the show's new location in Paris led hairstylist Sarah Potempa to try something a little different this year. She traded in traditional beachy waves for a version you'll flip over—literally.
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"The hair this year is all about a little more glamour. We just want gorgeous, Victoria's Secret waves that are really touchable," said Potempa backstage as she was styling model Sara Sampaio's hair with the Beachwaver S1. Sampaio chimed in, too: "I love it. We're going back to iconic, beautiful Victoria's Secret hair. It's beautiful, it's big, it's those beautiful waves. I'm really excited that we're getting them back this year. All the girls are really excited."
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Potempa and her team used varying sizes of the Beachwaver iron to create "structured, polished" waves that are curled away from the face to highlight the Angels' cheekbones (don't alternate the direction of the curl—that makes the waves a little too messy, she says.) The word voluminous was thrown around a lot backstage, which conjures up images of a hairspray cloud and cans of mousse. But Potempa and her team used very little product to ensure that the hair still felt soft and touchable. So how's she achieving all that volume? Once all the curls are set, she's having most of the Angels flip their hair part to the opposite side, creating a ton of natural height at the crown. "We're getting volume by creating a natural part at first and then allowing the girls to play with it themselves. Once you have the structure of the wave in, if she's going to flip it, she's going to get that bend. We're working with them and making sure their hair feels sexy."
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While most of the models had their hair transformed into flippy waves, there were a handful of others that left their natural hair in tact. Models like Alanna Arrington, whose springy curls (above) were slightly touched up by Potempa's team but left otherwise un-straightened, lengthened, or waved. This year's Victorias Secret show is bringing a little more hair diversity to the runway, because while we love long waves, there is more than one way, style, or cut to be sexy.
Jenna Rosenstein is the Beauty Director at Harper's BAZAAR across both print and digital. While attending NYU, she held internships at Women’s Wear Daily, Bloomingdale’s, Harper’s BAZAAR, and Allure, the latter of which she parlayed into her first job as the Beauty Assistant. She left Allure three years later as the Senior Beauty Editor. She spent a few months at Refinery29 overseeing branded content in the same title, before finally landing back at BAZAAR to manage all beauty content. When she's not testing every lipstick known to mankind, getting zapped by new lasers, or interviewing experts and celebrities, you can find Rosenstein at home in New Jersey with her son, husband, and black cat named Maddie.
