Guido Palau

Book Ref: 'Hair:', Guido Palau & Tim Banks, Rizzoli International Publications, Incorporated, 2014

Internet Ref: 'Guido Palau: Hair - In Pictures' September 25th 2014, http://www.anothermag.com/current/view/3944/Guido_Palau_Hair

http://www.anothermag.com/current/view/
3944/Guido_Palau_Hair

Palau's work has featured in a number of editorials from ID Magazine and Prada to Marc Jacobs catwalks becoming iconic for his outrageous and highly intricate runway designs that have featured at top shoes such as Milan Fashion Week. His work explores the stranger elements of historical hair design and takes artistic elements to construct his unique creations, the essence of combining the past and future dominates his work to produce hair styles that are completely of an era of their own.

http://www.anothermag.com/gallery
/3944/guido-palau-hair/2

This first image is a very modern take on Elizabethan padding, the hair is visibly incredibly sleek against the scalp and this look continues up into the hair piece. The models hair is most likely detached from the hair around the padding as the division between the two sections is very sharp, however the choice of colour gives the illusion of consistency. By smoothing the hair the image is immediately brought forward into a contemporary design however by simply being crimped or curled the whole look would changed to that of an extravagant Elizabethan hair style. This image is a wonderful example of the simplicity required to alter a historical hair style into a modern design and by changing the size and positioning of the padding used within the hair the whole style is almost alien. The large circular piece on the top of the head is somewhat symbolic of a spaceship, suggesting the link between the extraterrestrial makeup of the period and elaborately shaped hair design.

This second look is again a rather avant garde, futuristic take on Elizabethan hair styling but using braids and plaits to achieve a structure. This is a concept I would like to develop within my own final hair design as it includes Elizabethan features originally designed for practicality and decoration, completely reinvents them and turns them into a modern structured style that uses a simple method of creation. For this hair design the plaits at the top of the head have most likely been sewn together or secured using a thin wire to retain the vertical structure, this is a concept that I may take forward into my own design as it allows the hair piece to be more solid and manoeuvrable. The sides of the hair have been plaited flat against the side of the head using a french braid, by doing so it gives the image a slightly urban/modern edge however by wrapping the plaits around one another it maintains that sense of Elizabethan influence. The style that the plaits are sculpted into is heavily futuristic in influence as supplies and excellent visual example of Guido's passion to combine the historical styles of hair with that of futuristic styling and present day techniques.

Scanned from 'Hair:' - Guido Palau
Rizzoli International Publications Incorporated,
2014

This final image taken from Guido's book 'Hair:' is a example of a more masculine Elizabethan/Jackobean hair design but through its choice of colour carries a more Georgian essence. However the use of small tight curls used for this hairstyle is resonant of the male Elizabethan hair fashions of the time period. At the beginning of Elizabeth's reign the fashion for male hair was to be short and tightly curled to the crown of the head, and it was not until the early 17th century and end of Elizabeths reign that longer curls became fashionable. This use of tight curling is an excellent example of something that could be done for my own final hair design as long Elizabethan waves would be highly unattainable on my own short hair.

Internet Ref: Elizabethan Hair Styles - http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-hair-styles.htm