While digging in the library of my hairdresser Sergio (warning: never get me near your personal library, I will probably find a book I really like or I'm interested in and then I will start pestering you and begging to borrow it in a rather insistent and annoying way…), I found a few amazing volumes about fashion and hairstyles.
Among the most interesting titles I spotted there is a slim volume full of very colourful hairstyles entitled Avant-Garde Hair (published in 1977 by the Milan-based house Edicharme).
I think it’s apt to focus for today on this volume since quite a few of the looks featured in its pages remind me a lot of the hairstyles in Liquid Sky, the film mentioned in yesterday’s post.
The book was conceived as a sort of synthesis of an international event entitled “Wave 77” organised by the Basil-based Hairturning Group Switzerland.
"Wave 77" presented through the creative works of some of the most famous European hairsdressers, cuts, colours and styles that interpreted and anticipated the future trends in hairstyling.
The most amazing looks that displayed the highest technical and artistic skills were collected in book format to provide hairdressers and stylists with a creative tool that may have inspired them innovative ideas for looks and photo shoots.
Among the hairstylists who took part in this event there were Trevor Sorbie and the Vidal Sassoon Group (representing England); Brian Drumm and Irvine Rusk (Scotland); Jean-Marc Maniatis and Mod’s Hair (France); Marljes Möller and Renate Ludemann and the Studio June and Michaelis (Germany); the Hairtuning Group (Switzerland) and Tony and Guy (England and Italy).
Colour was the key theme of the “Wave 77” event, since, according to the organisers, bold and bright shades were going to play a major role in future fashion trends.
The book features some extraordinary looks: the Vidal Sasson Group created for the occasion styles that mixed Mod trends with futuristic and space age looks; the Mod’s Hair Look Group developed instead voluminous hairstyles, while Jean-Marc Maniatis opted for harmonious styles based on young and soft cuts.
I will definitely include further images from this book in future posts, but, for today, I would to mainly focus on the styles presented by Trevor Sorbie (Trevor Sorbie, Kate Leutton, Michael Barnes and Michael Hughes).
Sorbie was considered at the time among the forerunners of treatments for hair, a pioneer of cuts and styling techniques such as "The Wedge", "The Chop" and "The Scrunch" and an innovator of professional haircare products.
At the event his team employed Sorbie's impeccable techniques to create looks inspired by contemporary art and fashion.
Sorbie worked on three different dimensions, basing his cuts on geometrical figures and on two tones, mixing black with one main colour.
The hairstyles Sorbie came up with at the "Wave 77" were indeed highlighted by bold graphic lines in electric blue, red, lilac and yellow and the models sporting them wore dresses that perfectly matched with these styles.
The styles seemed to have an uncanny resemblance with the coloured projects, shapes, furniture and architectures created by the avant-garde group Studio Alchimia.
Founded in Milan in 1976 by Alessandro Guerriero in collaboration with Alessandro Mendini, Andrea Branzi, Ettore Sottsass, Franco Raggi, Lapo Binazzi (Ufo) and Michele De Lucchi among the others, Studio Alchimia is still considered one of the most inspirational groups from the 70s.
Check out the group's site to see some of its works; the quality of the images is not great, but if you are a graphic or a fashion designer, you will definitely find some amazing inspirations in the studio's colourful universe.
I'm sure these styles had some derivation from the architectural work of the Studio Alchimia (after all connections between hairstyle and architecture are not so improbable as we've seen in a previous post).
It's interesting to see how the Sorbie group continued its exploration of avant-garde shapes and forms in more recent years.
In 2009 the current Artistic
Director/Joint Head of Education of the Trevor Sorbie Salon in Covent
Garden, Jo Cree Brown (she has also worked backstage for Vivienne Westwood
and Ann Valerie Ash), created for instance the "Atomic Collection".
Some of the styles in this collection definitely represent a contemporary synthesis, based on neat shapes and volumes, of Sorbie's early experiments in architectural and avant-garde hairstyles.
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