Just came off a great Congress event—five days of non-stop model calls, cutting, colouring, clothing, coffee drinking and chocolate eating—but I think it went really well. 

My theme was “a world without colour”—it’s amazing what everything looks like when you take the colour out of it. Stop signs, flowers, butterflies…but I also wanted to show how beautiful black and grey can be. I coloured my first four girls black and various shades of grey-blue. Ricardo Dinis created classic shapes which really complemented the looks and the results were stunning.

I’ve been working on a new technique involving air-brushing and I think it worked well on stage. The hardest part was getting real haircolour to work in the airbrush—of course it’s not created for that—but after a few months of trial and error, we got it to work. I demonstrated it live on stage—it’s hard to see because the colour takes some time to process, but the effect was there. I had prepared my model by making her blonde to create the “canvas” on which to paint and used the airbrush to define certain parts of the cut, which was a geometric bob. I put heavy a black border on the fringe and the ends, which really gave it some weight and dimension.

In contrast to our first section, Nathanial Hawkin, a great editorial hairdresser who’s done a lot of TV work, created the looks for the “world OF colour.” We showed everything from pale blondes with pastels to blended spectrums of rich colours. His styling was dramatic too—sleek straight hair next to tight curls; glamorous, beautiful and feminine. This section really showcased Rudy Miles’s makeup well.

My final girl had beautiful dark, textured hair which we made vibrant red—my favorite colour. Thanks to everyone who helped with the show, especially Ricardo, Nathanial, Daisy, Lupe and Rudy. See below for a slideshow from the event and color formulas of the looks.

Tags: Congress 2008