Where do you seek inspiration away from the catwalk shows?
I’ve always had a strong connection with youth culture. For me that’s where emerging trends live or die. Wherever I go, I keep a visual record of what these innovators are doing with their style. Young subcultures are a constant inspiration to me. I also spend a lot of time researching and referencing emerging trends to deepen my understanding and truly get behind the feel of the look; that way I can enhance the whole trend with my own flavours.
How do you work with a designer to create the hair for a show?
I start the process at an early stage, and often designers are still working from illustrations at that point. I take time to get into their mindset, find out where their inspirations have come from and talk about the textures and colours. It’s an evolving process for both of us. At a later stage we begin fittings with the model, make-up and clothes stylist. We’ll play around with our ideas and develop a few new ones and work out what fits best with the collection and the vibe. It’s about creating the right canvas on which to place the clothes and often all the girls will have an overall look and we work on customising it to each model perfectly.
When you are backstage at Fashion Week what is the atmosphere like?
To be honest by that point most of the hard work has been done. My role is to draw together the strengths of my incredible team to make everything happen in the right order. I will meet with my team and talk them through the designer, the collection, the textures, the techniques and inspirations and then I will create the hair for just one model as a template. I will then present that model in the garment to the designer for their final approval before we go on to do all the others. I also do loads of back stage interviews and TV. It’s hectic but it’s also about being quick on your feet and able to build a new look on the spot if you have to.
