by Alexandra Katz
The creepy, crawly and dare I say hair-raising things that many people detest were the inspiration for Cliché’s Annual Hair Industry Night. You swat them away and scream when you see them crawling on the wall, yes, that’s right, bugs. Stylists from four different Twin Cities salons used their favorite insect to create a summery look.
Cuts and colors get to be very monotonous for hairdressers, so the owners of Cliché, Josh and Delayna, wanted to add some vicissitude to their otherwise indistinguishable daily appointments. Although spiders “freak out” stylist Melissa Cable of Trés Jolie Salon, it was the first thing that came to her mind, “I thought of long spider legs and I used braids to get that look.” Spindly, bright green legs sprouted from all directions on model Kyndra’s head. Not missing any arachnid details, Cable attached netting to her creation to construct the look of a web.
Decked out in Cliché’s most contemporary pieces the models sauntered around the cozy store front posing for pictures and doing some shopping on the sly. Lauren, who modeled Melissa LaPlante of Sweeny Todd’s Salon beehive, was buzzing about her look. “I really like mine,” she divulged. Her favorite part of the process was watching the design develop. While the experience may not have been stressful for the model, LaPlante was wigging out. Plastic bees were no where to be found and LaPlante came up with a clever solution. She spray painted toy flies gold and hand painted the signature black stripes of the honeybee. Oddly enough, fabricating the hive was the easiest part. Using chicken wire LaPlante wove blonde extensions in and out of the conical shaped segment.
Even though hairdresser Andy of Audaciastyling has been clipping hair since the age of 13, he was on the verge of quitting on his buggy production. His frustration boiled over when he “saw something in his mind and couldn’t bring it to life.” Andy grimaced as he described the source, the caterpillar. Getting a braid to lay flat on a Styrofoam ball is not as simple as it seems. Once all the braiding was done, the brilliant colors in their place, the most marvelous feature was tail that moved.
Height, shape and volume was Amber Philips’s concept behind her dragonfly. A stylist from Moxie Salon, Philips has been eager to work on a spring motif that has nothing to do with flowers. Her bug choice, extravagant in its own right, was a clean and sleek production. Four wings that moved gave the dragonfly a realistic makeup. Model Ana Cristina was “surprised it could flutter.” Philips commented that forming the shape of the wings was harder than she imagined. Eyes were an additional facet that Philips used to create her authentic dragonfly.
Whether you like bugs or not the show at Cliché ushered in summer with wild hairstyles and fabulously chic clothing.
All photos by Alexandra Katz
