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A Day in the Life of a Vintage Hair Stylist

Seema Chopra gives us a fascinating insight into her world of
theatres, opera houses, Dior and Vuitton fashion houses, Diet Coke puppet adverts, vintage parties and salons…

My name’s Seema, I’m a freelance wigs and hair stylist that has now specialised in Vintage hair do’s.
For the last seven years I have worked extensively as a professional hairstylist and theatre wigs dresser in London. I have created bespoke wigs for fashion houses such as Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Agent Provocateur and completed large scale projects for numerous high end clients including Mother London, Animated extras and Rootstein mannequins. I have also completed seasons creating specialist wigs and hair pieces for the Royal Shakespeare co and The English National Opera. My latest work can be seen on the Diet coke ’Love it light’ campaign where I cut and styled the puppet wig collection.


I currently work in two salons in London that have a vintage edge. Diamond dolls on the Camden Passage in Islington and Dappa hair boutique in Chalk Farm. I love working in both of these salons, I often do events with the Diamond dolls which has us doing period hairstyles for a group of hens prior to the big night out. This is always good fun and they’re not too drunk at this point, so it’s rather civilised. We also attend vintage fairs where girls pop by to transform themselves into ladies from a few decades ago.
At Dappa it’s quite different, I am the only hairdresser who has specialised in ’hair ups’, the rest of the team are incredible hair stylists and we learn a lot from each other. They also are attached to a vintage shop that sells very high end clothes, so it pulls in people that really want to go for the vintage styles.

Below are just some of Seema’s amazing wig creations – click to enlarge

How it all started
My life as a hairdresser started at Headmasters in Richmond, I was blessed by a lovely man who took me under his wing and taught me everything about cutting and blow drying hair. I watched stylists intensively as they cut hair and tried things out myself. That team were great to me, they shared all their skills, it was tiring but it carved my future as a hairdresser. I owe it all to them for giving me the opportunity to shine.
I left the salon world to join the theatre. I have worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company up in Stratford-upon-Avon and The English National Opera in Covent Garden, this has been such invaluable experience. Every show that we created has been inspired by a different era whether it is the late 1800’s or 1930’s. You have to learn about it all.

Wigs are in demand
I have learnt wig and facial hair making, wig styling and application, even special effects make up. Wigs are used during performances to save time on getting your actor/ singer ready prior to the show. That way you can style up to 50 wigs during the course of the day and then take 15 minutes to skilfully and firmly attach it to their head. Also the styles can be so intricate that doing that to their actual hair is not only time consuming but damaging too.
Each wig is bespoke, we make it at the theatre. They are set in rollers and put into a wig oven to set it. The curl will never fall out this way, you can never achieve that result without baking the hair.
The hair styles have to be secure without being glued with hair spray. These skills come in very handy at photo shoots and also for people attending events where their hair style has to last a few hours at least.

Getting dolled up
To know how to set hair in rollers, to know how to pin curl and how to set hair the traditional way really helps my hairdressing, it gives you a really good foundation. Working in theatre has also made me really fast yet the quality of my work is still very high.
It was great having girls lined up in the salon on New Year’s Eve, all with rollers and pin curls in their hair, applying their make-up for their night ahead.

Vintage parties are plentiful nowadays, girls really do like getting dolled up in a classic and beautiful way. Men also enjoy having their hair quiffed in a rockabilly style. Everyone used to do it in the past, but they had a lot more time than us in this hectic world that we live in. We don’t set our hair over-night any more, so we have to use tongs, rollers and a great amount of lacquer.





Diversity
I love the diversity of my work. I’ve created wigs for the Diet coke puppet fashionistas, made hand-made beards for the armies in the Prince of Persia film and made brides feel very special on their big day.

Stylists shy away from hair-ups and stick to the normal cuts and straight blowdrys. If you research and find alternative styles to create, it makes hairdressing so much more exciting. You never get bored.


Right: Seema puts the finishing touches to 'love it light' puppet Eleanor





Click below to see the video and Seema’s puppet wigs for the trendy gals below, Diet Coke TV commercial featuring three female puppets called Irene (left), Eleanor (centre), Bernadette (right) who encapsulate the Love it Light spirit.

WATCH VIDEO >>




Creating the Mughal Portrait
I wanted to showcase some of my own ideas for wig design through this piece. I was inspired by ’The Indian Portrait’ exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.
I collaborated with Luis de Jorge Ladrero and together we started to bring my visions of the ’Indian courtesan’ to life.

We drew colours, textures and compositions from the Mughal portraits of India in the 1600’s, I researched into hairstyles of the courtesan dancers from that period and together with a great team of creatives we were able to make the story visually interesting.



Above right: This is a dancer who lives within the palace quarters; during the day she meditates, she focuses and mentally prepares herself to perform her dance in front of the Kings that evening. She appears relaxed and complacent. (Left: The wig is seen on its stand)


Above right: Later, she is transformed... her attention is fixed, her movements are stronger and expressive. She has prepared her second wig which is adorned with jewellery to compliment her dazzling costume.
I wanted to show the difference in her character during day and night. We showed this through her styles, the lighting and her movements and gaze. (Left: The wig is seen on its stand)

We were able to create the ambience of a hot Rajasthani palace within a chapel in Peckham. The lighting was perfect...to create the warmth during the I also aimed to show the importance and significance of wigs in performance and how it can transform ones appearance so quickly and effectively.

Article by Heather Bell.