It is late summer time in New Orleans, but it surely’s not simply the climate that is at an all-time excessive. Braid inspiration runs deep at this yr’s Essence Competition, and in case you’re in search of new summer time kinds, our competition’s BeautyCon stage is the suitable place to look.
A Nola native, for instance, arrived with a easy again with locs folded into an exaggerated flower form. “I might like to say it is an on a regular basis look,” she tells ESSENCE, but it surely’s a glance she saved for the competition. One other onlooker wore bubble braids adorned with roses and gold hoops. “I simply needed to do one thing that embodied our tradition,” she says. “I needed to face out.”
Equally, one other person referenced Ethiopian braid kinds, carrying the entrance braided horizontally together with her pure curls omitted within the again. In the meantime, one other channeled her inside baby with braids as candy as Strawberry Shortcake. Her strawberry bohemian braids mimicked the crimson high of her shirt, with berry-colored clips and pink bows.
Forward, check out a few of the braided beauties we noticed on the BeautyCon stage.