A Hairstylist’s Journey: From Salon Chair To Runway Hair

Odete DaSilva is a NYC area hairstylist (New York and Westport, CT), business owner of Artistex Salon & Spa in Westport, CT, and lead hairstylist for Global Fashion Collective runways. Every season she leads her hair team in creating the upcoming trends in hair fashion to walk the runway.

This coming spring/summer 2024 season, presenting in September 2023, DaSilva says: "The trends will be a bit of volume, punk, and texture but most definitely the Barbie Pony will hit the runway. Either with a kiss-curl ponytail end or glam wave through the ponytail. We will see it.” 

“Barbie hair is everything! From the stunning look of horizontal glam waves and Hollywood waves to the Barbie Pony with kiss curl pony tail. This new spin on a classic is jazzing up the standard high pony, worn with a deep side part and fringe sweep to complement a kiss curled ponytail or glam waves pony. Either way the Barbie looks will take the runway this fashion week season.”

— Odete DaSilva, Key Hairstylist for GFC Runways

DaSilva is leading her hair team through New York, London, Milan, and Paris Fashion Weeks. It will be the team’s third season working backstage styling the hair together.

Becoming a Fashion Week Hairstylist has always been a goal for her and her hair team. This shared passion is what brought the team together back in February 2020 when she posted on her Instagram (@odetedasilvahair) that she was looking for hairstylists to work with her at NYFW backstage. They have been working runways and editorial photo shoots together ever since. 

FROM SALON CHAIR TO RUNWAY HAIR

Like most hairstylists, DaSilva started her career working in a salon.  It wasn’t long before she went onto opening her own business Artistex Salon & Spa in Westport, CT in 1999, and she says that she loves everything about being a business owner, the connection she keeps with her team and clients, but still always thought there was something more out there for her. .

She auditioned and gained a position on the Goldwell Artist Team based in New York, where she teaches other professional hairstylists the latest trends in hairstyling and hair coloring. Later, DaSilva won an award for best hair color of the year competition in 2018 where she placed Gold for the U.S. Naturally, this opened opportunities for her to work with different editorial based hairstylists and she quickly gained a position on a NYFW team as a hairstylist. As many hairstylists can relate; this was a dream come true for DaSilva. But the story does not stop there...

In 2019, DaSilva was offered the position of key lead hairstylist backstage of NYFW with a Global Runway. This meant she needed to build a team quickly, as the next season was approaching with only six months to plan. She immediately turned to social media posting the need for NYFW hairstylists and built a team of highly talented hairstylists from all over the country. With some of the team local within the Northeast, others come from as far as Canada, Mexico, California, and Chicago to work alongside her backstage.

Now, after completing NYFW the team is packing up to join her backstage at London, Milan, and Paris Fashion Week to bring her vision of the newest hair trends to these runways. DaSilva also has team members based throughout Europe in London, Germany, Luxemburg, Paris, and Italy. Goldwell and Varis of KAO Brands are sponsoring her and her team through the journey.

FOLLOW THE HAIR

DaSilva is documenting her travels to London, Milan, and Paris Fashion Weeks on her Instagram.

“Working backstage is very fast paced and a stressful adrenaline rush but I absolutely love it," said DaSilva. "Time is of the essence and often never enough of it. Everyone is hyper focused, running around, at times freaking out. It can get hectic but, in the end, we pull together to create an awesome show. 

“A hairstylist working backstage must quickly execute the looks perfectly balanced, with nothing out of place or the photos and video will capture a bad look. My experience in leading a backstage team is that there are many skilled hairstylists but at times they take much too long to achieve the looks. Most times we only have 10 minutes with each model. Every season I put together a hair collective of the upcoming trends, it’s like a storyboard that determines the looks walking the runway.

"This coming season I’ll be teaching classes on how to create the runway looks using tips and tricks I’ve perfected along the way, with a heavy focus on timing," she concludes.  "Everyone knows how to put up a pony until they have to do a pony for runway cameras.”

Follow @odetedasilvahair to watch her journey in real time.