Backstage
at London Fashion Week
with Paul
Knight, member of Peter Gray's stylist team
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One
of the great things about working for Peter Gray is his respect
for all of the models, not only for them, but for their hair as
well. All hair was treated before dressings and was brushed out
after the shows. It would be nice if all hair teams in the industry
showed the same respect, as sometimes the styles not only cause
distress for the models but can also damage their hair.
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Back stage at Jasper Conran there was very little space to work, but the
teams were given plenty of time to do their job most effectively, at one
point things were so relaxed that Jasper was sweeping up for all the hair
and make-up teams.
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Both
of these shows were held in the most incredible venues, Jasper Conran
at One Marylebone Road and Paul Smith at Claridges Hotel, which
makes working backstage such a joy although, it makes it more fun
when there isn't a budget as it is more about the hairdressing and
the clothes than it is about the glitz and the glamour.
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Preparation for the shows went to the wire where time was maxed out and
every second used. The season sees a celebration of architecture within
hair and allows expressive shapes and clever design; bringing London where
it belongs, at the edge of fashion.
Jasper
Conran
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Two
styles were created for Jasper Conran, the first one was to create
a 40's look using elegant finger waves and sophisticated body. This
was achieved by doing reversed tonging using one inch curlers to
create the body and foundation for finger waves through the top
section of hair. The back section of hair was then back-combed at
the roots and two doughnuts were used to wrap hair around into the
nape area to create a bob effect. The tonging was then brushed out
and pinned loosely into bob area with loose tendrils around the
face. This style complimented the lingerie style dress wear perfectly.
The second style that was created (see image at top of the page)
was a very slick and sophisticated low pony tail with what can only
be described as an architectural piece of art snaking towards the
crown. The style was created using a classic Peter Gray face lift
pony tail just dressed into the nape. The tail was then wrapped
in fine mesh hair nets then shaped and moulded into the back of
the head and secured. The style was like creating art, again
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the
hair style, clothes and make-up combined perfectly to make this one of
the strongest looks for Jasper Conran that has been done in a long time.
The stylists were very proud to be part of the team that worked on these
looks.
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These
pictures are backstage, as the stylists prepared the models for
the catwalk show. Creating one style with a pony tail tied into
the nape of the head, dressed into hair nets and pinned up the back
of the head; to create a beautiful, sculpted head shape dressing.
Peter Gray has always been famous for his pony tails, but he has
taken a simple pony tail forward to create something very commercial,
which can be used in any salon on any day of the week and for any
occasion.
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Paul Smith
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The
fashion stylists asked Peter to create a new image to coincide with
the fresh and bold new direction that Paul Smith are taking in their
ladies fashion, they wanted sophistication, but not slicked. They
also wanted a strong element, while maintaining feminine softness.
The style that was created was a cross between a bun and a chignon
so Peter called it the BUNION (not very sexy but the press loved
it). The style comprised of a simple twisted bun at the back. Then
triangular sections sprayed using L'Oreal hair mist for each section,
to create more definition for these sections they were dressed back
high and low around the bun to create interesting patterns of root
directions.
The final front section was then dressed loosely to create a casual,
soft outline - so as not to form a style that looked too constructed.
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