A hairstyle can definitely be architectural: influenced by architecture, geometry and the Bauhaus, hairdresser Vidal Sassoon banished the extravagance of the shapes and proportions of the '50s and came up with innovative styles, becoming one of the fashionable symbols of the Swinging London.
In a previous interview with Irenebrination, he stated: "I was inspired by many designers such as Mary Quant, André Courréges, Emanuel Ungaro and Rudi Gernreich (...) we weren’t just looking at fashion at the time, but at other disciplines as well, such as architecture. Architects cut great shapes into cities and I wanted to cut great shapes into the bone structure."
The Five Point Geometric Cut, created by Sassoon in 1964 on a young model named Grace Coddington (who later on became the Fashion Editor of British Vogue) is a clear example of an architectural hairstyle. The cut remained unequalled for its absolute geometry and it helped the hairdresser becoming famous all over the world.
It is possible to do a comparison between the iconic 1964 geometric cut and a precise building by Le Corbusier: Sassoon based the former on five points, while Le Corbusier designed his Villa Savoye moving from his manifesto - Les 5 Points d'une architecture nouvelle (The Five Points towards a New Architecture). So Le Corbusier's manifesto came to illustrate the principles behind his domestic architectures and Sassoon's five geometrical points became not only his signature style, but the basis for his entire system.
Japanese hair artist, head prop designer and wig maker Tomihiro Kono (河野富広) learnt his trade at the Vidal Sassoon salon. As he stated in a previous interview with Irenebrination: "I developed my career as a hairdresser and a hairstylist, so I didn't specialize in architecture or graphic design, but I learnt all the haircut techniques at the Vidal Sassoon salon. The way they worked on hair was mathematical and logical, so each hairstyle is perfectly calculated to be made. I learnt there that there is a hair diagram to design hairstyles and an accurate work was needed to create a complete hairstyle, for example you must take into consideration which angle you are pulling the hair strands out to create the form that you want. There are haircuts called 'geometric cuts', so they consider hair as regulated by geometrical and graphic principles."
You can discover further architectural and geometrical hairstyles in Tomihiro Kono's new volume, Personas 111 - The Art of Wig Making 2017-2020, that will be out on 15th March on Konomad Editions.
Image credits for this post
Hair | Wig: Tomihiro Kono @ Julian Watson Agency
Photography: Sayaka Maruyama
Make-up: Chiho Omae, Nana Hiramatsu
Model: Cameron Lee Phan @ New Pandemics
Publisher: Konomad Editions