“This experience gave me artistic oxygen. I was able to express my artistic views without any compromise, accessing my greatest passion for beautiful hair—this is when I feel tremendously fulfilled.”—Giannandrea
Wheat shade on model at left: “We didn’t realize Italy is one of the largest growers of wheat in Europe, so we wanted to showcase that you can have a cool blonde without being silver,” Luis Alcocer says. Shiny Blond clay-based lightener was applied in two lightening sessions, then hair was shadow-based with permanent color and ends were toned.
Aperol shade: Bitter and sweet oranges unite with rhubarb for a perfectly Italian cocktail. “I’m really big on creative placement and not overdoing things,” Amber Hope Robertson says. “We used just 20 foils for maximum impact. After rinsing, we did a melt of three levels of copper: 6, 7, 8 melting from darkest to lightest on the ends for dimension.”
White Marble shade: The landscape of the city of Brescia is peppered with mountains that are tapped for its plentiful supply of marble. Inspired by this, and the soon-to-be-released White Pearl permanent shade from ColorDesign, the team lightened the model’s base with Shiny Blond and toned with White Pearl.
Wine shade on model at left: “When we think of Italy we think of wine, so we wanted to showcase the vibrancy and richness of ColorDesign reds,” Robertson says. “Using a combination of prelightened highlighting, we overlayed with ColorDesign permanent color, and Fun & Glam shades of Candy Pink, Extreme Red, Wild Bordeaux.”
Step 1: Pre-lighten 2” Regrowth with Formula 1 . Process for 30 minutes, up to a level 8.
Step 2: Utilizing formula 2 create a shadow base technique
Step 3: Apply formula 3 from mid strand and ends and melting at the point where formulas 2 and 3 meet.
Step 4: Shampoo with ColorDesign Reconstruction Shampoo.
Step 5: Apply ColorDesign Reconstruction Oil and Mask.
Formula 1: 30g SHINYBLOND 60g 10 volume developer
Formula 2: 10g 8.32, 10g 8.11, 5g 7.11, 5g 7.32 60g 7Vol
Formula 3: 40g White Pearl, 80g 5volume developer
“This experience gave me artistic oxygen. I was able to express my artistic views without any compromise, accessing my greatest passion for beautiful hair—this is when I feel tremendously fulfilled.”—Giannandrea
Wheat shade on model at left: “We didn’t realize Italy is one of the largest growers of wheat in Europe, so we wanted to showcase that you can have a cool blonde without being silver,” Luis Alcocer says. Shiny Blond clay-based lightener was applied in two lightening sessions, then hair was shadow-based with permanent color and ends were toned.
Aperol shade: Bitter and sweet oranges unite with rhubarb for a perfectly Italian cocktail. “I’m really big on creative placement and not overdoing things,” Amber Hope Robertson says. “We used just 20 foils for maximum impact. After rinsing, we did a melt of three levels of copper: 6, 7, 8 melting from darkest to lightest on the ends for dimension.”
White Marble shade: The landscape of the city of Brescia is peppered with mountains that are tapped for its plentiful supply of marble. Inspired by this, and the soon-to-be-released White Pearl permanent shade from ColorDesign, the team lightened the model’s base with Shiny Blond and toned with White Pearl.
Wine shade on model at left: “When we think of Italy we think of wine, so we wanted to showcase the vibrancy and richness of ColorDesign reds,” Robertson says. “Using a combination of prelightened highlighting, we overlayed with ColorDesign permanent color, and Fun & Glam shades of Candy Pink, Extreme Red, Wild Bordeaux.”
Step 1: Pre-lighten 2” Regrowth with Formula 1 . Process for 30 minutes, up to a level 8.
Step 2: Utilizing formula 2 create a shadow base technique
Step 3: Apply formula 3 from mid strand and ends and melting at the point where formulas 2 and 3 meet.
Step 4: Shampoo with ColorDesign Reconstruction Shampoo.
Step 5: Apply ColorDesign Reconstruction Oil and Mask.
Formula 1: 30g SHINYBLOND 60g 10 volume developer
Formula 2: 10g 8.32, 10g 8.11, 5g 7.11, 5g 7.32 60g 7Vol
Formula 3: 40g White Pearl, 80g 5volume developer
On a sunny day in Brescia, Italy, which sits quaintly at the foothills of the Alps, Italian color brand ColorDesign hosted a team of educators, artists and MODERN SALON for this exclusive on-location shoot inspired by quintessentially Italian tones.
Educators Luis Alcocer, senior lead international educator, and Amber Hope Robertson, senior national educator, united with famed editorial and celebrity hairdresser Giannandrea, who has shot for every major magazine, and styled every major model and celebrity.
Cobblestones, mossy paths, cafes and cathedrals line the streets, and mustard-yellow buildings with classic Italian shutters juxtaposed a sun-drenched backdrop for the ideal picturesque location shoot.
The team, assisted by Desirree Escobedo, owner of Lavish Hair Lounge in Albuquerque, New Mexico, identified five Italian tones from which to draw inspiration, using the full range of ColorDesign lighteners, colors and fashion shades: espresso, ginger, white marble, Ferrari red and Aperol.
Giannandrea’s skilled styling work, combined with decades of photoshoot experience, expert timing and tension, created flawless finishing on healthy hair color that evokes the beauty of the Italian woman.
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
Editor in Chief Alison Alhamed joined the ColorDesign artists in Brescia to learn about the company’s long history in the professional hair color arena.
The In Italy color manufacturing plant, based in Brescia, Italy, was founded in 1996 by Giovanni Mogni, an engineer with a fascination for machinery. He saw an opportunity in the production sector to improve efficiencies in the way hair color was produced.
Fast-forward several successful decades and Mogni, along with his children (Simonetta, Alessia, Giulio, Silvio, Paolo), now run the In Italy color manufacturing plant near the bustling city of Milan, where R&D and production for hundreds of global hair color brands are housed, created, produced and packaged.
In addition to running the facility, the Mogni family also created their own hair color brand, ColorDesign, which is the culmination of the family’s color know-how, expertise, passion and vision for hair color.
Along with a group of educators and salon owners, I was invited to Brescia to tour the plant, to witness the level of quality and efficiencies, and to understand the heritage and evolution of Italian-made hair color.
Like you, when I heard factory, visions of concrete, bad overhead lighting and a chilly warehouse came to mind. The whole team was in for a surprise—a sophisticated, high-tech, futuristic backdrop served as the location with Ferraris, bottles of Dom Pérignon, espresso machines and relics from Italian ruins sprinkling the backdrop.
Flying in famed session stylist Giannandrea to take the lead on creative direction, we also planned an incredible on-location photoshoot, capturing both polished studio shots to be taken inside the manufacturing facility, followed by street shots of our models in the city center.
Exactly 24 hours before our photoshoot, we went location scouting in downtown Brescia to test the lighting and find the perfect spots with a limited window of golden-hour sun. I got to play model while Giannandrea was the photographer.
It’s exciting to see the collection come together, from our test shots to the final model finishes, it was the ultimate Italian experience of beauty, fashion and culture.—Alison Alhamed
Creative direction and hair styling: Giannandrea
Color: Amber Hope Robertson, Luis Alcocer, Desirre Escobedo
Photography: Maurizio Bresciani; assistant: Nicole Pizzetti
Makeup: Stefania Pacciana, Rodrigo Souza
Fashion styling: Denise Shedrick, Dina Elliot
For reprint and licensing requests for this article, Click here.
media brand