Gone are the days of finding a hot girl on the street, convincing her to let you cut and colour her hair, snapping her from the shoulders up.......... and winning gold.
Hair fashion has changed dramatically in the last 10 years, or perhaps its taken me this long to reach the top.
The concept that a hairdresser can replicate their photograph is becoming rare. The reason being proffesional models are wearing expensive high quality wigs, retouching graphos are more skilled at photoshop that ever before and in some cases, shoots are produced not by one hairdressser, but by a creative team.
Don't get me wrong i'm not having a rant, its just worth a mention that Australia's Hairdresser of the year 2010 was won by a colourist who produced a black and white collection? (No disrespect Shane) and Model Ruby Grose was used in 4 different shots by 3 different Hair Expo Finalists? (Ruby how do you grow your hair from cropped blonde, to bob brown to waist length in the span of a month)
The shift in Australia away from stiff headshots to stunning fashion photography has boosted the profile of the humble Hairdresser. Photographers, Stylist, makeup artists and models need to be current and credible. However, this all comes at a cost. How does a smalltime salon stand a chance against a million dollar giant like Toni and Guy?
No room for amateurs, pictures of your Aunty, shots taken in your bathroom and above all BAD HAIR.
Robert Bava 2010
John Anthony 2005
Caterina Dibiase 2010
Biba Academy 2005
It does put the competition in a different category now. It seems that so many more of the shots are about an art statement that happens to have nice hair, and less about hair statement that happens to be artistic.
ReplyDeleteI feel a little saddened by this. Now a salon not just sells its skills as hairsmiths, but also needs to sell an image for the hair to suit. The images produced by salons who do operate under the "creative team" banner now create "looks" for clients to achieve. Pity.
For arts sake - I LOVE this new approach to hairdressing and beauty and photography.
As a hairdresser I cant say the same.