Missoni showed off their Spring/Summer 2012 Collection recently at Milan Fashion Week. The models were looking particularly gorgeous sporting a “Spanish Harlem” hairstyle that showed off its slightly exotic mood very well down the runway.

The hair look was created by Eugene Souleiman (the Global Creative Director at Wella Professionals, Care and Styling), who intended for the ‘do to be a bit seductively playful and counter the more refined and romantic style of the clothing.

I wanted to create tension between the hair and the clothing, to inject it with a rawness that would capture the passion and sensuality of a beautiful young Missoni woman at the end of a hot summer night. So I took the idea of a traditional, slick Spanish look with a perfect side-parting and hair smoothed back over the ears and sculpted into a neat bun, and deconstructed it to create a ‘roughed up,’ disheveled effect and a slightly dirtier end-of-the-night texture.

Step-by-Step Styling (all products are from the Wella Professionals collection)

1. Start with freshly washed and conditioned hair using the Enrich Shampoo and Conditioner, and then apply the Velvet Amplifier to wet hair before blow drying everything smooth and straight with a round brush, making sure to not create volume.

2. Next, rub the Rugged Fix Matte Molding Crème between your palms and fingers and squash it all over into the roots of your hair to create a slightly matted textured effect.

3. Apply the Flowing Form Smoothing Balm to set the natural movement and texture, blasting the roots with a hairdryer to help absorb the product and make it invisible.

4. Although the end look is meant to be slightly disheveled, it’s important to start with a neat side-parting, so use a sectioning comb to create this before you use your hands to pull the hair back roughly into a ponytail at the nape of the neck, covering the ears.

(Don’t worry if the hair is not perfectly smooth as the beauty of this look is in the imperfection. You can even choose to massage the hair a bit with your fingers to create more volume and texture, which will add to the overall look.)

5. Take the ponytail, loop it back on itself and tie it into the base of the original ponytail to create a bun loop in the hair. Let the rest of the ponytail fall free.

6. Now use irons to straighten the loose ends of hair and add a light mist of the Ocean Spritz Beach Texture Spray to create a slightly drier, rougher texture.

7. Finally, add in decorative hair combs at the back of the hair above the bun loop. (The specific ones used in the show were specially created by Missoni, who had featured a snake motif in colours matching the actual clothes in the collection.)

Definitely a pretty laid-back look to recreate, though in pairing it with something not-so-casual, it elevates the hairstyle a lot and gives off a slightly flirty vibe. Browsing and seeing it on the models on the runway, it compliments the very vibrant clothing color palette that was featured. I mean…the canary yellows, aquamarines, hot pinks, and peaches were gorgeous on their own, but then applied to the classic Missoni prints and embellished with some subtle iridescent finishes - totally works.