Taking the Topknot to New Heights—Just in Time for New York Fashion Week

Like the shape-shifting cinch of a wide leather belt or the preppy roll of a crisp shirt cuff, it only takes a trompe l’oeil sleight of hand to reinvent a classic wardrobe staple. The same goes for any beauty look—and if you’re currently meditating on ways to turn the casual poolside topknot into a boldly reimagined hair statement, you’re in luck.

In turns quirky, cool, and immaculately coiffed, fashion’s favorite updo has suddenly taken on gravity-defying new proportions and an air of extreme chic. Perhaps it all started back at Marc Jacobs’s Fall show, where models walked the runway with forehead-grazing buns inspired by society mavens such as Edith Sitwell and Diane Vreeland. Answering Jacobs’s call for an eccentric sophistication that “accentuates the neck, jaw, and bone [structure],” backstage pro Guido Palau scraped the hair all the way forward before twisting it into a spiky loop. A few weeks later, a similarly high style turned up at Balenciaga in Paris with impeccable ladylike chignons situated at the crown of each model’s head. Reminiscent of the French house’s original clientele, which included Gloria Guinness, Mona von Bismarck, and Pauline de Rothschild, the slick-yet-unstuffy updos showcased the house’s modernized heirloom ear cuffs, which somehow looked almost punkish in contrast as they crept up the lobe.

 

 

As the summer rolled onward, the Couture and Resort collections resulted in still more irreverent takes on the topknot, as seen in sweaty, slightly smushed high buns at Miu Miu that were more purposefully “eighties club kid” than ladies who lunch. At Maison Margiela, intentionally askew cylindrical forms scattered with stick-on velveteen dots offered a punctuative wink to John Galliano’s vision.

Whether you take a traditional, polished approach or throw caution (and your brush) to the wind and opt for a bun that’s a bit more out of the box, what matters here is to avoid the middle ground. Because after all, with 80-degree days in the next week’s forecast and NYFW-induced traffic inevitably on the agenda, the last thing in your way should be your hair.

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