Within the lately launched music video for her newest hit, titled “The Subway,” Chappell Roan fused her idiosyncratic strawberry-ginger hair along with her trend, dressing in a customized Todd Thomas jacket and skirt set impressed by Maison Margiela’s 2009 hair coats. The 27-year-old “Pink Pony Membership” singer, born Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, hid underneath the mop of human hair as she lethargically moved by way of the New York Metropolis underground like an animalistic ingenue.
Roan’s hairstylist, John Novotny, helped conceptualize and produce the fabric of the outfit created from 35 bundles of curly human hair, three lace closures and two wigs. The thought got here from Roan’s private stylist, Genesis Webb, who reached out to Novotny to ask if he’d be keen to formulate a singular design.
Chappell Roan wears an outfit made totally out of human hair in “The Subway” music video.
“I had lately made a wig on my shopper, Julia Fox, to go together with an incredible Dilara Findikoglu gown that regarded just like the Start of Venus. The Dilara robe was sheer lace and had tracks of hair sewn into it to appear like the hair was draping down Julia’s physique, and we made an identical black wig that we tucked into the gown to make the hair seem thigh-length. That look and Genesis’ request actually bought me impressed,” Novotny advised WWD.
For Roan’s look, Novotny didn’t need to create the phantasm of hair working down her physique; he wished Roan to be totally lined in it. The imaginative and prescient was “woolly mammoth,” however on the membership. Novotny defined: “I wished to create one thing that pushed the boundary of what hair may be. The thought of a full silhouette made totally from hair felt each surreal and intimate. It’s a wearable sculpture, but deeply tied to her magnificence and iconic, fiery purple hair that pushes boundaries past simply size.”
The clothes had been created by John Novotny and Todd Thomas.
To match the feel of Roan’s pure hair, Novotny sourced quite a lot of hair sorts, from curly to wavy, and allow them to dry in a single day for optimum quantity. Each lock of hair began as honey blond earlier than finally changing into a fiery purple akin to Roan’s coloring. Novotny performed with three shades from Schwarzkopf Skilled’s Igora Royal line, making certain not all bundles had been the identical. “A few of them I processed twice so they might be richer, some I added roots, some I made all stable shade — in order that the garment may have as a lot mild and shadow as doable. After which with the styling, it added a lot shine and dimension. I wanted each curl to nonetheless really feel alive,” he defined.
In response to Novotny, coloring extensions isn’t the identical as coloring pure hair; it takes extra folks, extra hair dye and much more time. With that course of underway, Thomas labored to kind the skeleton of the clothes, making a base created from material earlier than hand-sewing the tracks one panel at a time. Novotny mentioned: “We had a becoming and realized that we wished extra darker tracks towards the highest as these had been the very best match to Chappell’s hair, and lighter in direction of the underside. Todd went in and repositioned a bunch of the tracks, and it turned out wonderful. He labored most likely 40 hours straight.”
Novotny used 35 bundles of curly human hair, three lace closures and two wigs.
Points arose from the habits of the hair; it could tangle and shed, forcing Novotny and Thomas to redo sections to even out the load distribution. The coloring wasn’t nailed down on the primary attempt both. The method was trial and error. Certainly, ultimately, the hues blended seamlessly.
“I’ve carried out quite a lot of transformative hair appears to be like, however this wasn’t nearly styling; it was about engineering the look as a efficiency piece. Working with Todd Thomas, we needed to assume like trend designers and hairdressers on the similar time. The size, the motion and the symbolism all needed to come collectively,” Novotny mentioned.
Though Roan might by no means don the garment once more, the piece was coated with “sturdy however bendable hairspray” and hung as it could on the physique to assist protect its form. And who is aware of, possibly Roan will outfit repeat for an evening out within the metropolis.
The usage of human hair in trend has ramped up in current months as curiosity in classic fur has concurrently elevated. A number of stars have fearlessly stepped out within the theatrical but movable designs, together with Jenna Ortega and, after all, Julia Fox. This pattern can be coinciding with a wider shift throughout the magnificence lexicon the place individuals are breaking down physique hair stereotypes.
