The Return of McQueen

Alexander McQueen was a major fixture in the British fashion scene up until his tragic death two years ago. Now Sarah Burton has taken the fashion crown from HRH McQueen and never before has the brand been so alive.

It is common knowledge that the McQueen brand hasn't held any form of show in London for about ten years and their diffusion line, McQ, which was founded in 2006, has never been shown at all. That is until now. Sarah Burton is driving the McQueen brand kicking and screaming into a new era, having hosted for the first time ever a London Fashion Week show, presenting the AW12, McQ collection.

 The collection itself was miles away from anything offered previously from the diffusion line. Dresses that looked as if they had been made from the purest gossamer threads, embroidered with thick, botanical prints were paraded down the catwalk along with monochrome woollen dresses and 'Vamp-ish' red lace dresses. It was definitely a stellar McQ show that harked back to the McQueen heritage whilst still appealing to a wider, more conventional audience.

Of course this is a major fashion achievement and something which has caused a flurry of excitement to sweep through the fashion crowd, but what really caught my attention was the intricate hairstyles designed by Guido Palau. McQueen has been a constant source of inspiration for hairdressers worldwide and the McQ show did not disappoint. Compared with the fashion shows Guido and I worked on during NYFW where effortlessly chic glamour was on the agenda, the McQ show presented a strong, structural look that was styled with precision.

The main look of the show and no doubt the most talked about look of the show (pictured above) was inspired by a 1940's hair roll with Guido exaggerating this technique to create an Avant Garde, high fashion appearance. The model's own hair is swept upwards and then rolled around a giant hair doughnut to create the rounded, disc appearance. It is a long and slightly painful process (for the model anyway) but it is one that is used time and time again in the world of hairdressing.

What are your thoughts on this collection? Did you like the presentation and highly stylised hair or are you just happy to see McQueen return to Britain after so long?

International Visionary Award Royal Albert Hall

 I was delighted to be part of the show working alongside  Anthony Mascolo creating the hair for the show.   The visionary Award was created by Anthony Mascolo, President of the Alternative Hair Award, to recognise and encourage a new generation of creative and artistic hairdressers. Contestants globally from England, Australia, Ireland, Russia, Italy, France, Japan and Hungary took to London’s Royal Albert Hall stage to present their individual interpretations of  Alternative show theme: “ILLUSION".

Being a visionary to me implies a constant search and desire to create new frontiers with hair. Being receptive to stimuli all around me means I can create freely using hair as my means of expression. 

Inspired by the Russian painter Kandinsky and his approach to form created by colour, I created my designs based on his techniques. 

You can see the true creativity of the International Visionary Award teams. I’m so proud being part of it.

History of the Bob Haircut

BOB History ...

Hairstyles of the 1920s created more controversy in hair fashion than in any other period of American culture.  And one hairstyle, known simply as ¾“the bob,” would be at the centre of this great debate.  First introduced during the Great War, the bob haircut would eventually cause a revolution in the way women would wear their hair ¾forevermore. 

                                                                   Louise Brooks

Women in the west have usually worn their hair long. Although actresses and a few advanced or fashionable women had worn short hair even before Word War l -for example in 1910 the French actress Polaire is described as having a shock of short dark hair  a cut she appears to have adopted in early 1890s. The style was not considered respectable until given impetus by the inconvenience of long hair to girls engaged in war work. Renowned dancer and fashion trendsetter Irene Castle introduced her Castle Bob  to receptive American audience in 1915. Popularised by film Star Colleen Moore and Louise Brooke in the early 1920s ,it was then seen as a somewhat shocking statement of independence in young women.     

^Tears and smelling salts accompanied the sacrifice as shorn cascades of crowning glories tumbled to the floors of barbershops.  Men raged over the female invasion of the barbershop but at that time, the-cutting-of-hair was still a male-dominated occupation.  In some cities, long lines of women were reported standing outside barbershops while inside, many women patiently sat on floors waiting their turn to be bobbed.  In New York City, reports of up to 2,000 heads.

^By 1925, the bobbed hair controversy still raged.  A teacher in Jersey City, New Jersey was actually ordered by her Board of Education to let her hair grow!  The Board claimed that women waste too much time fussing with bobbed locks.  Preachers warned parishioners that “a bobbed woman is a disgraced woman.”  Men divorced their wives over bobbed hair.  One large department store fired all employees wearing bobbed hair.

The Bobbed-Hair offensive got under-way in 1917, the date verified in the journal of Paul Morand : For  three days now the fashion has been for  women to wear short hair.

Everyone has adopted it, with Mme Letellier and Chanel leading the way....

Bobbed  hair  was  shocking, irreversible, and on the whole, grudgingly accepted. Only by means 

of the most absurd ruses did  women get their  families to tolerate the new style. Thus Colette, in 

order to appease her in-laws, pretended that she had accidentally overturned an oil lamp onto her loosened hair . But in sacrificing , at the instigation of her husband , Monsieur Will, tresses measuring some 1.58 meters (about 5 feet) she involuntarily anticipated fashion by at least a decade . This was in 1903 , when , in  the company of a similarly coiffed Polaire and an Opra- hatted Willy, her appearance in  a theater box created a scandal , causing Willy to be know along the boulevards as " the man with two monkey!.

And to make matters worse, the bold and daring flapper pushed the envelope even further when she subjected herself to the shingle bob causing even more controversy.  In a letter to the editor of a professional hair publication, one parent deplored this newest version of the bob:  “From the rear, it is hard to tell a girl from a boy, since the advent of the shingle bob.”  And, “I’ve raised my girls to be women and my boys to be men, but since the advent of this shingle bob, I have to look twice at my own offspring to tell which is which."

PSIONICS Hair Show

See the exclusive footage of  my Cafe de Paris show, PSIONICS, featuring the work of Andrew Corbett and myself. It was a night full of excitement, creativity and glamour all brought together through Avant Garde hair pieces and fashion. 

PSIONICS Show

 On Saturday 5th November, I held my latest hair show at the famous London nightclub, Cafe de Paris and it proved to be a truly spectacular evening. The show was based around the theme of PSIONICS, meaning creating an other worldly phenomena with ones own mind and was split into three halves showcasing an array of looks ranging from editorial and Avant Garde. 

Dramatic styles and colours took pride of place, with hats made from twisted strands of hair, horns made from plaited hair and a brightly coloured feathered head dress making their way down the runway. The show featured twenty models who all modelled unique hair designs in addition to the Avant Garde garments designed by Gemma Goldstone, VictoriaClare, Kate Williams and Ara Jo (who has designed for Lady Gaga). 

The show rivalled any firework display happening in the capital that night and allowed the press and the public the opportunity to preview the next big looks in Avant Garde hairdressing.