STYLE : Spring Beauty : The Latest on Looks : Curves Ahead

In Madonna videos, Versace ads and runway shows, the newest kink in longer hairstyles is crimping.

A nice change for straight hair, the wild, voluminous texture of crimped locks looks great with hippie and grunge fashions. Geri Cusenza, creative director for Sebastian, may well be the unofficial queen of contemporary crimping: Sebastian’s first product, introduced in 1973, was a crimping iron she developed to facilitate the quick “zapping” of hair for editorial fashion shoots.

Cusenza emphasizes that for the shape of the ‘90s crimp, volume should be at the sides, adding that “transparent waves”--an echo of fashion’s sheer, slithery fabrics--is the desired effect. To get the look, she recommends applying products that increase hair’s natural volume, then crimping hair tightly underneath and looser on top.

Italian-born stylist Serena Radaelli of Yuki Sharoni salon in Beverly Hills prefers a soft, pre-Raphaelite look for stars including model Naomi Campbell (below). She achieves her look by setting damp hair in several large braids, then quickly drying and unbinding them. To the sinuous curves that result, she adds a light, shine-enhancing product, GLASS Smoothing Complex from Redken or Aveda’s Purefume Brilliant Spray, and breaks up the “set” with her fingers.