Paris Fashion Week 2011: Issey Miyake Spring/Summer 2012 Backstage

Backstage at Paris Fashion Week with Eugene Soulemain, Global Creative Director, Wella Professionals, Care & Styling, at the Issey Miyake S/S ’12 show

Issey Miyake Spring/Summer 2012 Look

The Issey Miyake S/S ’12 collection was inspired by nature, especially the vibrancy of nature’s floral palette, and the organic shapes of plants and flowers.

“It’s all about flowers but not florals”, says Eugene Souleiman, Global Creative Director, Wella Professionals, Care & Styling.

As a collection of minimal layered pieces in yellow, blue, magenta and taupe took to the catwalk.  The influence of flowers, ever evident with delicate petal shaped structured hats in graduated colours perched on the side of the head.

The hair look was designed to complement and mimic the petal shaped hats.

“The starting point to the hair look was the idea that I wanted it to look like the bulb of a tulip, something for the petal shaped hats to morph with so that it’s not obvious where the hat finishes and the hair begins. I wanted a look that was elegant but in a contemporary way and a shape that was both graphic and soft, which is why I created this sculpted swept back look which was streamlined to change the shape of the head. The addition of spray colour allowed me to bring to life the vibrancy of nature with vivid colours that fade and graduate; exactly as they would appear in the natural world”, says  Eugene Souleiman.


Get the Look:

1. Always start with freshly washed and conditioned hair, use Wella Professionals Enrich Shampoo and Conditioner.  Apply Wella Professionals Velvet Amplifier Style Primer as a base styling product to smooth out the hair surface and prep the hair for subsequent styling products.
2. Blow dry the hair using a flat brush to smooth out the texture of the hair.
3. When the hair is dry, create a circular parting (around 20cm) on the top of the head, around the crown, keeping the remaining hair free .  Clip the rest of the hair out of the way.
4. Pull the centre section in to a pony tail and secure with elastic, taking the elastic along to around 10cm of the ponytail to make it stand out from the head
5. Take a donut (sponge shaped hair accessory to help create a bun shape) and pull the pony tail through the ring of the donut.
6. Pull the outer layer of the donut forward to form an aerodynamic shape and pin into place – make sure that it is secure as this forms the foundation of the hairstyle.
7. Section the ponytail in to four sections, taking each section at a time, backcomb the hair with a fine toothed comb from the inside of the donut to the end of the hair.  Repeat with all four sections.  Spritz with Wella Professionals Stay Styled Finishing Spray to give a little more hold.
8. Take one section at a time and pull over the bun section and pin in to place around the edge of the bun, then take the remaining end of the pony tail section and wrap it round the bun and pin into place.
9. Release the remainder of the hair and section off the hair from the edge of each eyebrow on both sides and clip out of the way.
10. Bring the remaining hair together and pull back towards the back of the head, spraying the sides with Wella Professionals Stay Styled Finishing Spray and gently brushing with a small soft bristled brush to create a clean, sleek finish.
11. Pull the hair up to the central point of the bun, creating tension in the hair to form a cone like shape and tie with elastic and pin into the centre piece of the bun, pulling the remaining hair forward and pinning flat to the head.
12. Take the front section of hair an pull back and upwards, back comb the inside layer of hair just a little at the roots to give it some ‘bite’ and then again, using hairspray brush the hair backwards towards the central high point of the bun.
13. Thread a piece of snag free elastic through the top part of the bun and then use the elastic to gather the top section and secure on the top of the bun – this should be really taut.
14. Saturate the remaining ponytail with Wella Professionals Stay Styled Finishing Spray and comb through so that it becomes a really thin ponytail.
15. Push the saturated ponytail to the head and using a blow dryer with a diffuser apply heat so that the tail ‘sticks’ in place.
16. When hair is thoroughly dry, use a large brusher brush sprayed with Wella Professionals Stay Styled Hairspray to gently brush the hair and remove any baby hairs or fly aways.
17. Finally, using spray hair colours spray the hair in a graduated movement, with vivid colour towards the  front of the head, fading into a lighter palette towards the crown.