Salon International 2019
Fortunately for us Aretê we were asked by the amazing Modern Barber Magazine to perform on stage for them at Salon International. For anyone that may be unaware of what Salon International is, it’s the largest hair and beauty convention in Europe and is held once a year at the Excel Convention Centre in London.
We were asked to do one haircut each and explain in detail, to a crowd of fellow professionals, what we did and our inspirations behind each look. So I’ve decided to do a short review for our customers and friends of ours that weren’t at the event to give you a better understanding of what went on down in London!
All of the work we do outside of the salon and as much as we can inside the salon we try and approach from an editorial view point. This often gives the haircuts a ‘lived in’ look and can appear the client or model has maybe styled their own hair rather than has been professionally styled. Which sounds counter intuitive but as any hairdresser or barber will tell you these looks are often the hardest to achieve as every bone in our professional bodies want to perfect the styling and quite often “over style” hair.
The reason we approach our work like this is we like to follow the fashion industry as closely as possible and we don’t want our haircuts to distract too much away from the outfits. We don’t often use skin fades during our work on shoots or at shows as this can often draw the viewers eye away from full look and keep all the focus on the haircut, which if you’re working in the fashion industry is bad!
Look Number 1 by Joshua O’Callaghan
Josh went for a blend of 90’s on top and 00’s through the back. These are two decades that have been huge on the catwalks over the last couple of seasons in menswear. And as this trend continues both aspects of clothing from these decades are starting to be combined. This is what josh wanted to recreate with this haircut.
By combining the two decades it’s almost as if it’s being pulled in a new direction into the present day, therefore giving vintage looks a new lease of life and making it wearable in the current fashion climate.
Styled wet look again to give it that 00’s feel. Josh used water and wet look pomade from Baxter of California (no bubbly crusty 00s gels unfortunately) to give it this appearance.
Look Number 2 by Matt Dryden
As seen in Josh’s haircut a few different decade influences have been fused together here. We have a strong nod to 80’s through the back area with a modern interpretation of a mullet. We also have the 60’s Paul Weller look framing the face all pulled together with quite modern texturising that bring it into the modern era and make it wearable today.
This look was achieved using a combination of scissors and a feather razor to ensure lots of texture to prevent the mullet area appearing too bulky. Matt incorporated a lot of disconnected sections throughout this haircut to allow lots of movement and to give it a more modern feel as opposed to the connected blocky mullets of the 80’s.
We’ve seen a resurgence in 80’s film and media culture recently with the rise of popular TV programmes such a Stranger Things inspiring peoples personal styles all over. I know I bought a replica of Steve’s jacket from the show myself!
Look Number 3 by Matt Pearson
For Matt’s look he was inspired again by rise of 80’s culture but more specifically the resurgence of the Teddy Boy in the 80’s. A look Chris Isaak owned during this era and most recently adopted by Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys. The latest Zara Autumn/Winter men’s campaign was the catalyst for this inspiration. A campaign that encapsulated the resurgence of the 50’s teddy boy during the 80’s.
To bring it into the modern era as with all our looks from the shows Matt added in some extra length in front of the ears which he described as the haircuts ‘fenders’. This gave the haircut a slightly rawer finish to the perimeter to continue the editorial feel of the whole show.
We’d love to thank Modern Barber again for having us and to everyone that came to support us and help out on the day.
Alexandrea Leonard ( Assistant )
Wes Morgan ( Photography )
Ben Hart ( Model )
Carwyn Rhys Williams ( Model )
Oil Richings ( Model )
Areté Team ( Stylists )
Words by Matt Dryden
