Sign up to be part of...
Backstage with the session stylists at the House of Holland show
Date Added: 2009-09-24
As I walk into the historic Guildhall, nestled between London Wall and the imposing structure of St Paul's Cathedral, I think what a fabulous location this is to display Henry Holland’s latest collection for House of Holland. The dark, echoing halls are laden with rails of clothes as security guards mill around the space. I walk into the backstage area and suddenly see the hub of the activity. Make up artists and assistants are perched on chairs and tables, and a team of hairdressers are discussing the latest looks. It is here, amongst the bustle of people, that I meet the inspiring hair team behind Henry’s latest show. Shay Dempsey, Global Design Consultant to Sebastian Professional welcomes me into the room and offers me a seat.
“This is the second season I have worked with Henry and it’s been fantastic,” beams Shay.
“The whole process took about two and a half months to plan. We had three meetings with him where we discussed the inspiration behind the clothes. We also spend a lot of time creating looks and emailing images to Henry. The hair for the show I would describe it as “a bit of a do”. Its quite theatrical and very fresh and edgy.”
Shay also talks about the way in which the looks are to be created (practised many times before on live models).
“We use Microweb Fiber as a product for prepping the hair. Hands are used to backcomb the hair; we don’t use brushes, as we want to create an old-fashioned tease effect. We then use three different types of hairspray - Re-shaper when we start working on the hair, then Shaper Fierce and then Zero Gravity for final hold.”
This year the Sebastian Professional team have been involved in a new X-factor style competition to find a team of hot young hairdressers to work backstage at the show. Known as the CULT Team, the young collection of talent was selected from hundreds of hopefuls.”
“Its so exciting”, said Shay. “I just met them on Monday for a boot camp-style day. It was like an X-Factor competition as it was all about raw talent. We also taught them about how to react on show day and timing elements – how to undo what you have already done for example.”
“Session styling is so different to working in the salons and can require a different skills-set”, he explains.
“You have to think so fast on your feet and have an extremely well trained eye. Everything has to be similar in its look. It is a different way of dealing with hair.”
The Sebastian CULT team are hovering in the background (see image), their adrenaline pumping ahead of the show this evening. I stride over to introduce myself and meet everyone - Andy Smith from Nirvana in Winchester, Leanna Sutherland from Evocative in Elgin, Katherine Rooney from Toni & Guy, Newcastle, Angelo Vallillo from Sullo and Holland in Nottingham, Jen Sokolov from Eye Candy in Derby and Niki Moore from Michael Van Clarke in London.
“We all come from different backgrounds” Says Niki, “I have worked on shows before and actually worked backstage at the Charlie Le Mindu show on Saturday”
Leanna pulls me aside to tell me about the boot camp. “It was very much like X-factor. We have all spent so much time together, living together and doing the various activities and training required. It’s been a great experience,” she concludes.
This year the House of Holland show centres around the theme of a wedding. As Sean Dawson, UK Creative Style Artist for Sebastian Professional explained: “The wedding theme is all about hair that is done but undone. Deconstructed 80’s influence. The look will be big hair deconstructed with random curls. It will feature a smooth fringe section pulled flat across the head and then pinned on the side. The hair will be brushed out and then rolled under and pinned.”
As Sean described the hair to me I begin to see how much work goes into the concept.
“We do live models and show Henry’s team. Our role is to make the hair complement but not overpower the clothes.”
The clothes are unveiled later at the catwalk show. Featuring a vivid colour palette of purples, pinks and contrasting shades, they create a fun and fresh wedding theme. Squares are sewn on to the garments to create a quirky look. Denim also features heavily on the catwalk (perhaps inspired by his recent collaboration with Levis). A selection of slogan t-shirts and safety pin jewellery all echo the wedding theme, as T-shirts carry slogans such as “Old”, “New” “Borrowed”, “Blue”.
However, one thing which marks this show out from Henry Holland’s previous is the omission of his best friend and world class model Aygness Deyn from the runway. Miss Deyn turns up later and seats herself in the front row with a host of celebrity friends including Alexa Chung and Little Boots.
