Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall '09 NYC: Alvin Valley

Donna Maggi for Nioxin backstage at Alvin Valley

Donna Maggi for Nioxin backstage at Alvin Valley

Last night I headed to the Altman Building for the Alvin Valley show, where lead hairstylists for Nioxin Theodore Leaf and Donna Maggi were busy giving their male and female models looks that channeled the classic elegance of the 1930s, but with a modern flair. Designer Alvin Valley’s collection was inspired by the Mitford sisters, who were renowned for their privileged and politically controversial lifestyles during the 1930s. For the female models, Leaf and Maggi created pin curls in the back of the head that shift to finger waves in the front. To get the look, the stylists first applied Nioxin Volumizing Reflectives Spray Gel to the hair and loosely blow-dried it. They then sectioned out three or four layers of spiral curls in the back of the head, alternating the direction for each row. Next, they sprayed each section with Volumizing Reflectives Niospray Power Hold before ironing it, twisting it into a spiral curl and pinning it. For the front, the stylists used the same technique, but with barrel curls and finger waves, blending the waves into the pin curls in the back. For the men, Maggi said the hair, which was parted on the side and slicked back with Smoothing Reflectives Pure Shine Gel or Volumizing Reflectives Liquid Sculpting Gel, was intended to look “classic and fresh—very Robert Redford or Clark Gable.†—Lotus Abrams, Managing Editor