Sometimes, the most striking hair trends are inspired by centuries-old approaches. A quick search on TikTok finds the term “Renaissance hair” sitting at 5.5 billion views, filled with tutorials showcasing long, soft waves festooned with braids, ribbons, flowers, and baubles (the numbers padded by a wealth of looks inspired by Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour, naturally). Renaissance hair is what happens when you’re ready for a new chapter of the cottagecore trend—an ode to full-on fantasy, grounded in history.
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During the height of the Italian Renaissance, hair was considered a woman’s crowning glory, as evidenced by the intricate styles visible in paintings from the era (think works like Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus and Portrait of a Young Woman, or La Bella by Titian). “Although paintings often depict allegorical figures and imagined worlds, they still represent an aspirational standard of beauty and would reflect desirable fashions of the time,” says Rachael Gibson, also known as The Hair Historian. “Hair was a way of communicating age, marital status, and an individual’s position in the period’s social hierarchy.”
Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of a Young Woman (Simonetta Vespucci), ca. 1476. Staatliche Museen, Berlin.Photo: Heritage Images / Getty Images
