F.A.M.E. Team at Paris Fashion Week
The F.A.M.E. Team’s year is coming to an end, but before they hand over duties to the new 2019 team in December, they had one last extra special trip - to Paris Fashion Week for the Spring/Summer 2019 shows, thanks to ghd Professional.
F.A.M.E. Team mentor, Nick Irwin arranged the experience with acclaimed session stylist, Eugene Souleiman, as the ultimate opportunity for the team to get hands on backstage and learn from the very best in the business in a high-profile environment.
The team were invited to assist Eugene at three of the most exciting shows in Paris: Thom Browne, Yohji Yamamoto and Maison Margiela.
To support their trip, Fellowship sponsors ghd Professional supplied a kitbag for each artist, as well as covering travel and accommodation to ensure the team had the ultimate experience of Fashion Week.
The week began at Maison Margiela; now in the inspiring hands of John Galliano. The look for the hair was very natural and undone in contrast to previous seasons, with shapes kept flat through the top of the head but with a fluid, wet-look feel. Looks were varied, but had an element of uniformity through the texture. There was a clear concept of gender fluidity within the hair, to emphasise the androgyny of the collection.
Next up was Yohji Yamamoto, where hair consisted of serrated and accentuated sections with a mixture of solid and gritty textures. Each look varied slightly according to the model’s hair length, density and style. Most of the looks had one side styled very sleek to the head and the other side with protruding, serrated shapes to create a strong, contrasting look.
Finally, it was Thom Browne, where hair was kept uniform, but striking with a sabre-like ponytail at the back of the head. The sectioning pattern is simple, yet cleverly placed, to ensure everything works together appropriately to create the shape.
Team member Katie Prescott said:
Our time at Paris fashion week was absolutely incomparable. We got the chance to see Eugeneʼs process of creating his looks firsthand, and it’s clear that he is a true artist with an incredible passion for hair and a way of inspiring future creatives in the industry. It was a huge privilege to be part of the team for the three shows in Paris and experience the incredible energy and buzz backstage.
Ellie Bond added:
Being able to observe Eugene at work was mind blowing; I could watch him for hours. His attention to detail and creativity inspires me and I feel like I have learnt so much from him and his team over the week. He doesn’t just create hairstyles, he creates art.
As much as I loved assisting backstage at the shows, I’d say my favourite day was at the Margiela test. It was mind-blowing to see the standard of preparation, the attention to detail and focus. It was an incredible insight to what actually goes into getting ‘the look’.
I absolutely love our new tools from ghd Professional, especially the new platinum plus stylers - more than essential for creating the looks backstage, especially at Yohji Yamamoto.
We can’t thank Eugene enough for inviting us out to Paris with his team, to ghd Professional for sponsoring us, to our mentor Nick and his wife Stacey and the Fellowship for making it happen! We’re very blessed to have so much support in helping us achieve our dreams.
Get the Look…
Maison Margiela
Nomadic couture hair and genderless styles - Boys wearing wet-look, French pleats with berets; and girls being left natural with very little hair product and personalised texture.
- Leave the hair to dry naturally so you can get the natural vibe
- Once dry, comb in a mixture of water and mousse and form the desired shape on the head
- Secure tightly with a hair net and diffuse dry the product in using the ghd air hairdryer
Yohji Yamamoto
Unstructured elegance - A dry, windswept freedom to the hair with panels that feature more tension.
- Hair is overloaded with texturizing products, including mousse and salt spray
- Blast the hair dry using the ghd air hairdryer, adding in more as the hair starts to dry
- Once you have the desired effect with the texture, take random panels and spray the section heavily with hairspray
- Straighten with the ghd Platinum+ so that the panel will be sitting in a different direction – anti-head in shape
Thom Browne
Spring fantasy land - Restricted hair and balaclavas.
- Blow-dry the hair straight with the ghd air hairdryer
- Starting with a centre parting, take an inch-section both side of the parting and clip it out of the way
- Section off an area from the top of the ear across to the opposite side at the nape. Clip out of the way
- The remaining section is then secured into a ponytail on the left hand side of the nape using elastic
- Backcomb the surface of the hair to the head shape to create a fuzzy dry texture using a light hairspray
- Backcomb the right side that has been left out, and spray on the underside with hairspray
- Start to wrap around and secure using elastic into the ponytail
- The top section of the hair that has been left out is then backcombed vertically and moulded around the head shape using a hair net and the ghd air hairdryer
- Taking out a section at the base of the ponytail, you then backcomb around the ponytail using hairspray, continuing this process until you reach the tip and have created a dreadlock.