“You can wear the daggiest tracksuit, but if your hair is blown out, you still look a million dollars.” That’s the style mantra of Matt Jones, Edwards and Co.’s official cutting and styling educator and director – aka one of the guys behind those enviable brushed-out waves (and that balayage) that regularly blows up our Instagram feeds.
Jones sees hair as the finishing touch to any outfit, as vital an accessory as that It-bag or statement pair of earrings. “My mum and dad always told me to never leave the house unless your hair is brushed, and that’s stuck with me,” he tells style influencer Jasmin Howell as part of the marie claire FIAT 500 Fashion Files. “I don’t think a look is complete without healthy, shiny, gorgeous hair.”
As he styles Howell’s tresses into the signature wave Edwards and Co. has become famous for, Jones talks cut and colour trends for the coming summer, and where we’re headed next with hair.
1/ A return to length
“The biggest trend this season is people are starting to grow out their really short bobs,” Jones shares. “We’re getting back into that nice long summer hair, which is a little more in between shoulder and bra length, something a little more undone and easy.”
Case in point: Howell’s only shoulder-length hair. “A lot of people now are doing something very similar to what you’ve got,” Jones says as he wraps a curling wand around one of Howell’s brunette tendrils. “Growing it out to shoulder length and adding texture.”
Not ready to return to long hair? An (admittedly daring) alternative is to take it even shorter. “I love Katy Perry’s short hair, she’s got a really edgy haircut that I think people need to start trying out a little bit more,” Jones muses. “It’s definitely up there with one of the cooler haircuts I’ve seen.”
2/ Effortless texture
Jones’ second celebrity hair crush is Rosie Huntington-Whiteley: “Her cool, textured lob is really doing it for me at the moment.”
Steal her style by asking your hairdresser for extra layers and amping up your hair’s natural texture with volumising products. “When it comes to hair fashion in Australia, we’re not into the done up look, we don’t want anything too polished,” Jones explains. “Especially living in Sydney and near the beaches, everyone wants that nice, undone hair.”
“For me, it’s more about being playful with texture, getting in there and adding a few more layers than you would normally do,” he reveals.
3/ Future-proof colour
The Edwards and Co. brand of balayage goes beyond Insta-fame, with women the world over craving the natural, brushed-on colour the Australian cohort has made so covetable (as testament to this, Edwards and Co. is about to open their first salon in New York).
The beauty of their balayage – whether it’s in the form of creamy blonde or deep caramel – is its effortless, lived-in appeal. “It isn’t over-coloured, it’s still shiny – it’s about beautiful balayage and highlights and lowlights all mixed together,” Jones directs.
As an added bonus, it’s also long-wearing. “This is future-proof colour – it’s about not having to come into the salon every six weeks to get your colour done,” Jones explains. “It’s about spending that initial investment and then getting a bit longer out of your colour.”
In other words, forget saving for that Birkin bag – having good hair is investment dressing at its finest.
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