Japanese comics inspire hair designs

NEW YORK (CNN) -- It's a new look for hair and it comes from superheroes battling evil from outer space. But the tights and cape are optional.

The look is inspired by Japanese comic book stars who solve Earth's problems with superhuman powers. Their hair is full of energy, color and shape that always bounces right back into style no matter how tough the battle.

For spring, interpretations of the outer limit look flew down some European runways.

In Paris, Jean-Paul Gaultier streaked and highlighted hair to go with his cyber-hippie outfits.

In Milan, Anna Molinari played with hair color featuring combinations such as dark on light and light on dark.

But in New York, at Salon Ishi, hair stylist Ishi says that variations of the look are going to be big for the rest of the '90s.

"This is very much a trend because every fashion is becoming so sexy and superheroes (are) so sexy. Hairstyle is very futuristic, because of how they use the combination of color, with the texture of the hair," he says. (94K AIFF sound or 94K WAV sound)

Ishi says that the bold colors are taken straight from the pages of the comics. "It can by any kind of primary color, red, blue, green, purple, any color you like."

The hair design artist says that the superhero look is best suited to short hair, so the cut is all-important.

On Japanese model Yoko, Ishi first wets, then divides the hair into three sections before cutting. He makes diagonal cuts to remove small chunks to add more shape and volume. (1.2M QuickTime movie)

"The reason is that shorter hair can be texturized a lot easier and much less weight you can see the movement of the hair," Ishi says.

What makes the cut different from an ordinary layered cut is its really soft edges.

Under Ishi's supervision, colorist Idalia Sousa adds chunky highlights to the top of Yoko's hair. "We like to apply the color for (a) bold look, so we do a lot more thicker or wider highlight than a very fine highlight," Ishi says.

Even though the hair is now highlighted, Ishi says that it's still a very versatile look. "Flip one side to see the really chunky bold color come up, or flip the other side and it can be completely covered."

To give the look that really dramatic superhero edge, Ishi adds colorful hairpieces. "It can be styled anyway you like but (it's) not meant to be styled to look good. You can wear it very free and it looks great," Ishi says.

Model Jennifer Sky gets a look that's a little closer to earth. Ishi trims her hair to taper the ends and gets that superhero shape and movement. "We do just a simple highlight for her at this point but then we use a hairpiece to change the look."

Ishi says that the cut can fit any face. "It's just the work of the shape and detail of how we finish it and it should work for every type of face."