Braiding- Tribal/ Constructing the braid

After designing different hair styles inspired by the tribal theme, I decided to incorporate a plait/ braid into my final design as braids are used widely to style African and tribal hair. I think forming a long, bold plait will allow me to incorporate different natural materials, such as onion grass into the hair while the hair being slicked back into a long braid emphasises a strong female warrior feel.

Below are a collection of high fashion hair styles featuring braids, influenced by a tribal theme. The images show different types of braiding, including corn rows, messy fish tail braids and repunzal style plaits called Eembuvi Braids, worn by the women of the Mbalantu tribe from Namibia.

Hairstyles incorporating braids can also be seen in a previous mood board created to show different styles influenced by a tribal theme. 

After looking at various images, I decided to create a messy fishtail braid to suggest a warrior feel- the hair is swept back, ready to fight/ hunt, but has become messy while doing so. After discovering the tribe who wore their hair in very long styles and braids, I decided to make the fishtail braid quite long.

As my models had naturally short hair on top and shaved at the sides, I decided to order two wigs off of the internet. I ordered a maroon wig and a brown one, to match her hair colour. I then pulled at the stitching of the wigs to release the wefts of synthetic hair, mixed the colours together with some replica onion grass and formed into a fish tail braid.

Below a images of the step by step process of creating the tribal braid for my final design, starting from the wigs I ordered to the end product...

 

After removing the hair wefts from the wig cap, I braided the lengths into a fishtail. 

Once I had braided an entire length of the synthetic hair, I secured it at the end with a band and repeated the braiding process with three more sections, securing it to the end of the previous fish tail braid. I wrapped some more onion grass around the secured sections of the hair to disguise the band and also add more tribal detail to the style I had decided I wanted the braid to have a powerful shape that would complement the curved shape of the headdress, so I threaded wire into the top section of the braid and formed into a curved shape to coincide with the headdress and add a high fashion tribal feel.

I wrapped replica onion grass around the ends of the hair to join the braids together to add length. 

I threaded a piece of wire into the top section of the braid to reform the shape- adding height.  

Applying aqua colour to alter the shape and shine.

To finish, I applied black aqua colour to sections of the hair, using small sweeps to add a darker shade into the hair, to further match with my models. I also found that the use of aqua colour diminished some of the shine of the synthetic hair, making it look a bit more natural.

I plan to braid the front of my models hair and use her natural hair to merge with the fish tail braid. Nevertheless, I do want the entire style to look messy and not too styles, to add to the earthy and aggressive themes linked to tribal themes, therefore, I am not aiming to create the neatest join between the natural and synthetic hair, resembling hairstyles designed by Nicholas Jurnjack for Alexander McQueen’s show, It's A Jungle Out There. 

Hair Inspiration-  by Nicholas Jurnjack for It's A Jungle Out There- Alexander McQueen. 

          

My hair design for the final look.

How the braid complements the shape of the headdress.

References

Mood board

Image 1- S-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com, (2015). [online] Available at: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/32/4a/fc/324afc14154cd6623cede2a989edd133.jpg [Accessed 4 May 2015].

Image 2- Rubihair.com, (2015). [online] Available at: http://www.rubihair.com/img/174 [Accessed 4 May 2015].

Image 3- Porcelainista.net, (2015). [online] Available at: http://www.porcelainista.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Screen-Shot-2014-03-20-at-21.40.55-.png [Accessed 4 May 2015].

Image 4- Denimjeansobserver.com, (2015). [online] Available at: http://www.denimjeansobserver.com/mag/designer-denim-jeans-fashion/2014/ss/brands-j01/junya-watanabe-2014-spring-summer-womens-runway-paris-fashion-week-show-france-denim-jeans-patchwork-tribal-print-braided-fringe-native-american-hippie-draped-02x.jpg [Accessed 14 May 2015].

Image 5- Poshglam.com, (2015). [online] Available at: http://www.poshglam.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/00030m-mcqueen1.jpg [Accessed 4 May 2015].

Image 6- Static.messynessychic.com, (2015). [online] Available at: http://static.messynessychic.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/women_long_hair.jpg [Accessed 4 May 2015].