The Byrds

In June 2007, Goldwell/KMS offered Adam Noble of Next Hair Salon in Canberra the 30 minute finale show for Hair Expo. Adam approached producer/choreographer Sally Clark to coordinate the models and movements, and Ross Fairhurst and his team to design all the make-up. I was invited to design and produce the outfits, 32 in total, along the theme of 'Birds'. Below you may recognise outfits resembling canaries, flamingoes, magpies, penguins, hawks, swans and peacocks. These photos were taken and generously supplied by Wendell of Tito Media.



The following review of the show appears in the August/September 2007 issue of Culture Magazine:

Welcome to Birdland
A brilliant counterpoint to the melting pot of themes and fantasy on show in Generation Next was a sublime show by Canberra wunderkid Adam Noble and his team at Next Hair. Sponsored by Goldwell and brilliantly portraying fashion as an advanced form of bird life (with a cheeky David Attenborough running commentary), Adam in collaboration with the Whitehouse School's brilliant fashion designer Peter Dwyer, took more than 1200 people in the audience on a journey that featured 'bird life' of all descriptions and personality traits. From the self-possessed peacock, through the street tough magpie, the pretty flamingo down to penguins and birds of prey, all manner of fashion and behaviour was exposed. One of the most brilliant shows to ever hit the Hair Expo gala stage fusing killer hair, including Adam's bespoke precision cutting, to couture fashion with fun and a touch of fantasy.

Paper for money

Evelyn Miles shoes were in the process of designing their next add campaign and asked me to design one of my signature 'Paper Dresses' for them. The paper TuTu is a wonderful piece and I have won awards with it in the past, so I decided to offer them a fresh piece. It took seven hours to create. I instructed the Melbourne stylist (sorry can't remember her name) to cut down the individual paper strands to reveal the model. It should be fitted higher on the crotch line, but never mind, it still looks great.

Working with snakes

In Feburary this year, I was invited to assist Amanda from the Nishler Hair Salon in Hobart, create a shoot for her hair submission, along with photographer, Ian Golding. She had the idea to use live snakes, so I felt that an appropriate styling strategy would be to create a look that related to either 'Cleopatra' or 'Medusa'. I had seven pairs of Gold Bikinis made up and flew in to Tasmania with two suit cases of gold jewlery ( generously loaned by Conte Moda in Sydney) and "Hey Presto!!" Cleopatra with snakes!

Restrained

Matthew Nischler from the Nischler salon in Hobart invited me to design and style a shoot for him, with Ian Golding behind the camera. I had an idea to do a beauty shoot with girls tied up to industrial rubbish - 'Beauty thrown away'. In the end, the "tossed away" element was toned down, however my 'hording' is still evident in the background. If I was to have my way, the vague facial expressions need more distress, and a lot more 'bondage'. Oh well , next time!!

Cars and Couture

Being part of a wonderful team ensures a successful job. PR agency George P Johnson handles the Lexus account and wanted a fashionable approach for the Lexus reveal, during the 2007 International Sydney Motor Show. They (luckily for me) engaged Sally Clark to produce the reveal and she proposed a 'Spring Racing Carnival' theme. As we have a successful working relationship, she offered me the task of styling the event. Sharon Blain from The Art of Hair performed a spectacular job with classically styled up do's, and the talented Julie Elton applied the make-up. I spent weeks designing and pushing 'Sinamay' (spelling) under the machine to create, what i think, are fabulous 'race day' hats. It's all about colour and movement. This is one of the highlights of my year, event couture at such a stylish level. Bring it on!!!!