Do Something New and Original: Let Art Inspire You

I have always been into art. The movies. Events. And whatever is happening in the world. These have inspired the hair and photos in my collections. I always liked to work with a concept and a narrative for the collections I art directed. Not just a collection of photos hardly speaking to each other!

This worked with full pages in magazines all over the world. Sixteen here, twenty-three there. Four or five often. Full pages that is. How? Why? Well, the collections were very strong visually. Not just for the hair, which was always researched before the studio, but also for the photos, which were planned like a movie. Then, all the hairdressers I liked to work with always tried to innovate, even if a small detail, not copy what others have done over and over. It is easier to do a load of what I call nothing. But so very much better to do something …more. And to be original.

All hairdressers, especially colorists, should know their art. If you do not, you will never truly be world-class. Cubism and Surrealism inspired me at Vidal Sassoon, Art Deco and Magritte at La Coupe, Check the website. I'd take an exhibition, an art movement, and then work with the hairdressers to modernize the look but keep to the theme. Why don't you try it for your next collection?

Here's one idea. Be inspired by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. La Belle Époque. Art Nouveau. A beautiful era which started in Fance and Belgium around 1871 and ended in 1914.

The pre-eminent artist of Belle Époque Paris was Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) and he could inspire a Belle Époque /Art Nouveau trend with his exhibition at MoMA Museum, NYC, from July 26, 2014-March 1, 2015.

Featured, his famous prints and plenty to inspire all in the fashion and hair worlds. There's 19th century Parisian life – the social salons, the culture of gastronomy (think Maxim’s), ice-skating, horse racing at Longchamps and, of course, the dance halls, the Can-Can, Moulin Rouge, the brothels and prostitutes – all could inspire you. As could Lautrec’s muses, Yvette Guilbert, La Goulou, Loie Fuller, Jane Avril and everything Époque and Art Nouveau. Lautrec hair was often in bright orange or red or yellow, the styles fitting in with today’s casual looks, one of which could be Gibson girl hairstyles of the era, then you can go to Edwardian looks.

Click the photos here and see some of Lautrec's work at MoMA, also Art Nouveau hair ideas, blouses, shoes, graphic letters and two photos kind of Belle Époque I selected from my website. Check under each photo for more information, some links to the website and some books on the subject.