WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE…
WHEN UK-BASED BARBER LUKA CHITTY JOINED FORCES WITH HAIR STYLIST AND COLORIST CHRISTABEL LEGRAND TO COMBINE THEIR VISION, IT BECAME A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN, PAIRING BARBER CUTS WITH VIBRANT COLORS TO CREATE A HYBRID COLLECTION.
“For a while I was noticing a recurring trend where men would come into the salon looking for me to do color on them, but still wanting to go to the barbershop for their cut,” explains Christabel. Keen to bring the two skills together, she contacted Luka to see if he would be interested in collaborating.
“We had the same vision and the same passion for our craft, so it’s worked really well. Luka has worked so hard to create an equal, diverse space in the barber world so I was really excited to work with him,” she explains.
The first collection they put together celebrated Pride in the UK, incorporating a rainbow design on a man’s cut and since then they have continued to create a range of different collections together.
“We come up with a concept and then we communicate a lot throughout the shoot, bouncing ideas off each other to make sure we nail the final look,” says Christabel.
“Each time we do a collection, we try to keep the same ethos but add a different ‘punch’ to it, so this one is based on ‘ride or dye’, which is a bit of a play on words. We just wanted to do something edgy, futuristic and cool, we shot it in an arcade complex with lots of neon, grungy backgrounds,” explains Luka.
“Color is definitely becoming bigger in the barber world,” he continues. “The whole reason for our collaboration was because there was such a divide between hairdressing and barbering, we just wanted to bring the two together and inspire people to collaborate because we love it, we might even do some education together.”
A lot of the colors in their collections tend to be what you would call creative color, using bright shades and contrasting colors. In Christabel’s mind, she believes that these bolder shades are gaining popularity, with individuals becoming more creative and liberated when it comes to expressing themselves.
“I think it’s a sign of the times, the world is a bit unsettled and people are experimenting more boldly with their appearance because it’s a way to show how they feel or simply to make themselves feel good,” she explains.
Working together, Luka and Christabel have been able to enhance their own ideas, never hindering each other. Christabel’s skill has always been coloring, not barbering, so in the past she has been unable to completely fulfill her vision. Now, collaborating with Luka, she can make those visions a reality. Whenever Luka comes up with a cut, he is always amazed by her creativity and her ability to add a whole new dimension to a look.
“Chrissy has this amazing knack for finding amazing, edgy models that are up for anything and it has just been so fun, I really hope that more barbers and hairdressers follow our lead because the results have been incredible. We’re just loving breaking the boundary between the two worlds,” says Luka.
Luka and Christabel are already busy working together on another unique collection, which celebrates the worlds of hair coloring and barbering. They have plenty of exciting things planned for the New Year, including working with highly skilled British barber, Ryan Cullen.
“The best thing for us is seeing other barbers and stylists being inspired by what we’ve done and followed suit. We worked together on stage at Salon International in England last year and since then, we know a few barbers who have gone on to collaborate with hairdressers, which is just fantastic to hear,” says Christabel.