Kevin Murphy Mail no.4
story courtesy of Kevin Murphy…
Hi everyone,
I wanted to share with you my latest two shoots for Vogue, March 2010.
It was a show of colour! The designers have gone all out to catch your attention. The big thing was bright colour in the hair, and a dressing that was inspired by Scuba gear called “Scuba Chic” – it means lots of primary colours, tight micro minis, killer heels, and “full-on” fake colour in the hair.
We haven’t seen this much focus on bright hair and makeup for a long time. Fake brightly coloured pieces look fresh again!
On Abbey’s hair I wanted to create a surf look but make it deliberate and glamorous so I sprayed HEATED.DEFENCE onto damp hair and blasted it dry. I then teased the hair with a SMOOTHING.BRUSH to give it body and brushed it out, leaving about 60% still teased. I finished the hair with FULL-ON.PROTECTION to set and define the pieces around the face and blew out the bang straight.
Then I went mad with the coloured powder and rubbed this pure pigment into the ends of the hair. I really wanted to make a statement with the colour. I chose a Cyclamen mixed with a hot fluoro pink to produce the bold cherry. I love the way the powder gives you volume and the fact that it’s so instant makes it easy to straighten by day, but be a bit on the wild side at night.I used a lot of the HEATED.DEFENCE to create a slight barrier between the hair and the powder and the product makes the powder sit better.Make sure you do not use a heated appliance after you have coloured the hair. The powder washes out with shampoo.
You can certainly see why Abbey Lee is one of the worlds most sought after models. She really looks at home and owns the look.
Not only has this shoot been picked up by so many fashion blogs, it’s inspired me to move into the area of colour; super semi one-night-only colour that will make you stand out in a crowd.
We then went from pink to acid yellow. It was funny to see Lady Gaga at the Grammy’s sporting the same colour as we had used in the shoot.
In this shot I applied HAIR.RESORT and EASY.RIDER to give it that damp look. The makeup was so full of colour it needed to be reflected in the hair. Fashion at the moment demands “More is more”, it’s about excess, OMG! It’s about time don’t you think. Its time to have fun and go for it. Let someone else worry about the worries of the world and get on with the business of having fun, hair is fun.
I love this shot so much. This is a favourite because of how soft and beautiful she looks. Abbey has the kind of face that says things. Abby did not stop busting moves all day she really gives the shoot 150% every time. The story was super long; it went for over 25 pages long. It seems to be the trend to do mammoth fashion stories these days.
Getting back to the technique. I used the natural texture that Abbey had to get the dishevelled look. To use the natural texture you must apply the product to damp hair, not really wet hair. The hair shouldn’t be weighed down by product. I still spray on heaps of product but I do it when the hair is 50% dry. Blasting the hair with the product in it is perfect. Make sure you use a wide tooth comb to get the knots out before teasing with a SMOOTHING.BRUSH, this will give your style consistency and will avoid cave-ins and gaps.
This is my favourite outfit and the closing shot to the story, showcasing the latest Prada. I love the torn hems and the unfinished feel of the outfit. Mui Mui, that is Prada’s younger line, are the best clothes I have seen in a long time.
Scroll down to see the other shoot I did for the same vogue with Aboriginal model Samantha Harris.
As you can see, Samantha is a totally stunning new face. She is of Aboriginal decent, the traditional owners of Australia. Australia has struggled with its racist past and we are still learning from the mistakes made. Racism has never found a home in the world of fashion. High fashion looks at the individual, it honours the differences between us all and embraces the unusual. Race is something that you run and it has no meaning in the eyes of fashion.
Samantha’s hair is naturally dry so I prepped it with a blend of ANTI.GRAVITY and MOTION.LOTION and dried this into the hair. The MOTION.LOTION adds the moisture to tame the frizz and the ANTI.GRAVITY locks in the style. I then set the hair using a large barrel curling iron and medium size rollers. I set it straight back at the top, down and under at the sides, the back was all rolled under.
The hair was then teased with a SMOOTHING.BRUSH and the top surface smoothed over. At this stage the hair was big and smooth (sort of like first lady hair).
I then pulled the sides and top back and sewed it into a half up half down, (still big but tight at the sides.) I proceeded to pull bits out around the front and sides to make it looser. I then applied a bit of FULL-ON.PROTECTION to the bits to lock them into place and define them. On the back I teased it with a SMOOTHING.BRUSH, brushed this almost out and re-teased it with my wide toothcomb (TEXTURE.COMB) to achieve the feathery look.
I finished with a little bit of SESSION.SPRAY on the front to make it smooth and shiny in sharp contrast to the feathery hair at the back. My reason for the contrast in the hair was the clothes are made up of so many opposites, sheer on patterns, uniform style dressing with diamonds, and pants that have belts that sit over the tops. This inspired me to make the hair smooth and not smooth, lady like and soft mixed with dry and messy.
Well that’s about it from me for now. I hope you liked the March issue of Vogue; I was honoured to be part of these shoots.
Regards,
Kevin Murphy
