Cornrows have been a favorite for everyone from the girl next door to top celebs. We grew up with the trend and it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. But now we’re seeing the classic style more and more on high fashion runways and we’re loving it! We stopped by Chromat’s Spring/Summer ’15 show where lead stylist Chuck Amos merged a winding cornrow with a topknot.
“There were two inspirations for the cornrows at Chromat; one was Becca the designer of chromat’s girlfriend, Christine,” says Chuck. “She wears her hair in a topknot with cornrow braids on the side; it has a sporty feel to it! The other inspiration was the artist “Sol Le Witt” and how he used curved lines and dashes to make geographical shapes in his artwork. So I used the negative scalp space from the partings on the models’ heads to achieve this look and give it the lines and graphical shapes that are featured in his artwork.”
His top tip when creating the look: Avoid bunchy clumpy braids by using smaller sections of hair to braid the cornrows. I like to use a cream and gel mixture when cornrowing braids for moisture and control.
Get the look:
1. Brush hair with a paddle brush.
2. Using a rat tail comb, section hair either on the sides or in the back for cornrow placement.
3. Gather the remaining hair up into a topknot using Oribe’s Gel Serum and Supershine Moisturizing Cream. Gather hair into a high ponytail and secure with an elastic band.
4. Flatiron the ponytail.
5. Start braiding in a wavy pattern or strip and secure with a rubber band.