Back to results

Asymmetrical, Monochromatic Madness

Share

The first thing you notice when you go backstage at Jeremy Scott’s Fall/Winter 2019 show is a number of mannequin heads all lined up in a row, topped with short, straight black wigs. If you aren’t already aware of who Jeremy Scott is as a designer, this is all the indication you need that this is not going to be any ordinary catwalk show - this is a show that has something to say, and, if you know what’s good for you, you’re going to sit up and listen.

The term ‘statement jacket’ is given a whole new definition in Jeremy Scott’s Fashion Week collection, ‘Extra! Extra! Read all about it!’ which features blown up renderings of tabloid covers from the New York Post and New York Daily News, hand-drawn onto garments by the incredible artist Aleksandra Mir. The message behind these prints is clear: these clothes are an attack on the 'unending news cycle' of which, by being, “mired in the onslaught of sensational and earth-shattering headlines, we are witnesses, victims and perpetrators” all at once.

For Wella Professionals Global Creative Director of Care & Styling and ghd Fashion Week Ambassador, Eugene Souleiman, the inspiration for the hair looks focused mainly around three of the key themes seen in Jeremy’s collection: the monochromatic colour palette, the use of asymmetry and the manipulation/masking of materials. These themes combined to create hair looks that paid a “true homage” to Jeremy Scott’s expression of “the wonder and horror of our times”.

The Hair

Eugene has previously remarked that collaborating with Jeremy often brings about “some pretty wild hair”, and looking at the hair looks created for this season’s show, this seems to pretty much sum this up. Short black wigs are hacked haphazardly to give an asymmetrical appearance, the roots covered with thick, white ‘paint,’ which is brushed roughly through the lengths. This is a look that is meant to do more than stand out… it’s meant to disrupt.

The hair looks all live according to this monochromatic theme, with every female model wearing the same wig and every male model wearing black hair, long or short, streaked with white paint from the roots. These hair looks could not be more different from Scott’s SS19 show, where Eugene had tailored the styling for each of the models, to focus around “demeanour and the individual”; this hair cloaks the models in anonymity, the uniform styles presenting them as one united front. There is no room for personality here - this hair is a vehicle for a wider message; it is the newspaper that bears the headlines.

There were multiple techniques used to bring Eugene’s vision to life. When the wig was firmly secured on the head, using hair pins, this is where the fun really began. Scissors were manoeuvred in an undercut technique all the way around the head, creating textural asymmetry and resulting in a dramatic, sweeping fringe across the face. The wigs were then spritzed with Wella Professionals EIMI Sugar Lift to create body and volume from the top and Mystify Me Light was used again to create texture, in conjunction with the ghd platinum+ stylers, which were focused on the top of the hair.

Once the wigs had the desired texture, the white ‘paint’ (a mixture of Wella Professionals EIMI Sculpt Force and white powder) was applied thickly to the roots and spread downwards through the hair lengths using the side of the brush.

In terms of styling, Eugene could not stress enough the significance of ghd air professional performance hair-dryers in pulling the hair looks together – from the straight blow-dry technique that was used to create the initial texture in the wigs, to the diffuser dry that embedded the white paint into the roots and gave it its roughness around the edges. If one thing is for sure, it’s that these products, together with Eugene’s creative genius, which resulted in hair looks that far exceeded the realm of fashion.

Hero Products @ Jeremey Scott SS19:

  • ghd air professional performance hairdryer
  • ghd platinum plus styler
  • Wella Professionals EIMI Mystify Me Light
  • Wella Professionals EIMI Stay Firm
  • Wella Professionals EIMI Sculpt Force

Hair styling by Eugene Souleiman, Wella Professionals Global Creative Director of Care & Styling and ghd Fashion Week Ambassador

www.ghdhair.com