Milan Fashion Week How to: Dolce & Gabbana F/W 13, by Guido for Redken

Dolce & Gabbana always put on some of my favourite shows at fashion weeks around the world – you can pretty much guarantee that the collections will be beautiful, sexy and unabashedly feminine, and that the beauty look will be as covetable as it gets.

Their recent showing at Milan Fashion Week was no different, with a Byzantine themed collection complimented by a soft, romantic Sicilian up-do created by Redken Global Styling Director, Guido.

"This elegant style is another variation of the Dolce & Gabbana woman this season,” he explained after the show, “playing on that Sicilian idea of softness, romance, and a certain cinematic, womanly beauty. I took inspiration from the idea of an iconic woman with a kind of natural Italian allure- think the actress Sofia Loren or the women in the 1960 film la Dolce Vita. There's a natural ease to her beauty, she's sexy but in a conservative way. It's not at all a messy look, and it's all about the details - I wanted it to have shine, but to not at all look greasy - just a soft, glossy finish."

It apparently wasn't supposed to look like a perfectly coiffed, straight-from-the-hairdresser's ‘do, rather one created by “the kind of woman with inherently beautiful style, who does her hair herself”. Some of the models also wore gold, jewel-covered crowns in the show, but in my opinion it was ALL about the hair.

To create the look at home:

* Apply Redken’s guts 10 root-targeted volume spray foam to damp hair from roots to ends and blow-dry with a round brush. 

* Add Redken’s quick tease 15 backcombing finishing spray to the crown section by section, holding each section for a few seconds to let it dry before moving onto the next.

* After the quick tease 15 has dried completely, backcomb hair with an oval boar bristle brush for light, airy volume throughout the crown. 

*  Create a very small (1 inch) part that's slightly off centre and then gently brush hair from front to back starting behind the 1-inch parted section in front, folding into a chignon flat against the head at the nape of the neck and securing with pins. 

* Spray with Redken’s shine flash 02 glistening mist for a glossy finish.