With the Fashion Week season kicking off in New York on 9 February and the Couture Fashion Shows currently taking place in Paris, it’s the perfect time to research new trends and styles to offer your clients. Jack Merrick Thirlway from Neville Hair & Beauty, London, is a regular backstage at London Fashion Week as well as Couture Fashion Week in Paris. As a stylist who juggles his time between working at Couture Fashion Week, London Fashion Week, on shoots and in the Knightsbridge salon with clients, Jack talks about the differences between couture, session and salon hair.
How would you describe the hair at Couture Fashion Week?
Couture hair has to be perfectly executed; the precision of each look has to be dressed to look expensive, with high shine and gloss. Couture hair should be worn with confidence, strong independent women wearing their crowning glory, elegant and worthy to be worn with the stunning couture collections.
How does this differ to editorial hair and hair that you create for clients in the salon?
Editorial hair differs with textures. Hair worn on the catwalk moves differently and the way it captures the eye is opposing to editorial hair. We can produce different types of art for photography meaning textures can be fluffy, flyaways look beautiful when the flash captures a moment. Some of the most stunning editorial pictures can be from the simplest of ideas, but when seen on print look incredibly genius.
London Fashion Week allows us to be creative in the sense of products and undone, worn-in hair is masterful when crafted correctly. We can open our minds to mixing products to design art without being restricted to how wild the looks can be.
How do you make Couture hair wearable and client friendly?
Couture styles can be worn by everybody, as long as it’s worn with confidence that elevates the look. Couture hairstyles are elegant and can be easily manipulated into salon-friendly looks with few changes. Volume is a key when recreating in a salon; slightly less volume will be more wearable day to day, and if less setting spray is used the hair will be more free to move naturally making the look feel elegant with a softer edge. Using the right products is essential and there are a few that I always have in my kitbag. L’Oreal Professionnel TECNI Art Pli or Volume Mousse offers great hold when prepping, while L’Oreal Professionnel TECNI Art Super Dust hair powder is my best friend backstage as it gives great hold to backcombing and the perfect texture for updo’s when dressing. Whether it be runway, editorial or salon stylilng, setting and prepping the hair is the absolute key to a great outcome. If the pre-work has not been executed perfectly, achieving the final look will be very difficult.
Jack’s top tips for creating couture hair
1 Learn how each product works and use them in many different scenarios and hair textures to be confident in how to use backstage.
2 Have every tool in your kit, your work becomes easier when you have the correct tools. Using the tools to maximum potential to get the most out of your hair dressing.
3 Don’t be afraid to experiment. Prep and be ready by the time you get backstage or with your client. Push boundaries as it’s the only way to grow.
4 Always add more texture or movement than you need when setting, it is easy to reduce but impossible to add.
5 Practice, practice, practice.
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