Black Is King, and Our Hair Is the Crown
Beyoncé let the whole world know that "Black Is King" (something that was already well-known by those of us fortunate enough to be born Black royalty). Taking that into account, our hair is the crown. "When I look at portraits of Black women from previous eras," says hairstylist Naeemah LaFond, "I'm always enamored by the artistry and the grace with which we carry ourselves. There is this air of dignity in the relationship that Black women have with their hair." Allure collaborated with a team of Black creatives to celebrate our beauty in all forms — the past, present, and future.
A version of this story originally appeared in the September 2020 issue of Allure. Learn how to subscribe here.
Eye Impact
Makeup artist Raisa Flowers mixed a red cream pigment (MAC Chromaline in Basic Red) with a bronze inner eye highlight (Pat McGrath Labs Mothership V Eyeshadow Palette in Bronze Seduction) and a raspberry blush from the Nars Narsissist Wanted Cheek Palette II to create a fall-inspired palette that's especially powerful on brown skin. She balanced the bold eye color with chocolate lips: Nars Powermatte Lip Pigment in Done it Again is a shade she says “everyone should have.”
Crystal Clear
Flowers referenced the glittering makeup looks on the fall 2020 runways by adding a single Swarovski crystal under the lower lashes. "It just gives a pearlescent look and points to the eyes," she says. The shape of the flowing headdress of the 20th-century Ethiopian empress Zewditu inspired LaFond. "My inspiration for all of the [hair] looks were portraits of Black women in Africa and in America in the 1800s and early 1900s," she says. "I love the range of amazing shapes and also the scope of our textures, which allow it to rise up to the sky or be molded and sculpted with endless possibilities." LaFond finished this hair look with Amika Silken Up Dry Conditioner to add a subtle sheen.
Gold Standard
Fashion stylist Rasaan Wyzard adorned model Adeng Nyamam with gold jewelry and clothing, a nod to 19th-century African royalty. "The team made me proud of my African heritage," says model Adeng Nyamam, who was born in South Sudan. To match the outfit, Flowers created a golden eye shadow look, but added a futuristic feel with a metallic lip. It's actually a blend of two lip colors — Nars Powermatte Lip Pigment in Paint it Black, MAC Retro Matte Liquid Lipstick in Caviar — topped with duochrome pigments from Larina Makeup. LaFond molded the hair into a tapered cut similar to the shape worn by Princess Emma Bakayishonga of Rwanda in the 1940s.
Sapphire Stare
Flowers mixed marine and cyan blue matte creams together to make this dusty sapphire shade that shines bright against brown skin. This particular winged eyeliner look has a futuristic bent with the addition of an extra crease accent that mimics the eye detail in the Schiaparelli earring. Even more trippy: Flowers chose a green lip gloss from MAC to finish everything.
Heavy Metal
Shade-shifting eye shadows, which morph from one metallic to another when light hits them, "feel very future-forward," says Flowers, who created this look using Pat McGrath Labs Mothership VIII: Divine Rose II Palette. "I had a client compare the finish to alien skin." A neutral lip gloss, MAC Lip Pencil in Nightmoth, and Shiseido Shimmer GelGloss in Bare Pink keeps the focus on the eyes.
Bronze Era
Wyzaard layered gold elements with neutral brown tones to complement Nymam's skin. "I wanted [the clothes] to feel like a second skin to her, so that her face and her hair really stood out," he says. Flowers created a striking eye look with a magenta under-eye liner from Colored Raine's Vivid Pigment Palette with coordinating light pink shadow from the Pat McGrath Mothership III Subversive palette. The lip is a MAC Lipglass in Low-Cut, "a deep chocolate nude that's one of my favorites, especially on darker skin."
To construct that hair into different shapes, LaFond used Amika Vandal Volume Powder. "When you puff it into the hair, it adds this level of grit and texture to the hair that really helps it to hold the shape. I think people assume that natural, textured hair is stiff, but really often it's super soft, and it doesn't necessarily hold a shape. So it's great to use products that you don't typically associate with natural hair texture to create all kinds of shapes."
Crowning Glory
"Usually hairstylists just look at my hair, spray it, and that's it," says Nyamam. "For the first time, I got the full treatment. Naeemah actually took the time and care to do my hair. For me, that felt very special." LaFond wanted to show the versatility of textured hair and its endless abilities to be shaped and molded. "I always feel that when we're doing shoots that address Black hair, the natural go-to is always a braided look," she says. "I wanted to veer away from that, and show another level of how Black women demonstrate glamour through the sheer texture of our hair and all of the amazing things that it can do." She combined several hairpieces to get this updo, using hairpins and volume powder to lock in the shape.
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