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SEARCHThe driving force behind the Matrix’s new trend release, “Individuality,” says Associate Vice President Global Education Cynthia Pitchford, is the power hair style has to define a woman.
A softened geometric version of Amy's look. A night-time club look on the same cut.
The driving force behind the Matrix's new trend release, "Individuality," says Associate Vice President Global Education Cynthia Pitchford, is the power hair style has to define a woman.
"Within you lives a counterpart with a different style, different attitude, an alter ego about to emerge," Pitchford says. "Your hair is the ultimate expression of your own uniqueness."
To execute the elements of "Individuality," Pitchford assembled 12 members of the Matrix Global Artistic Design Team, selected four models and set up shop in London for four days. The idea was to create a basic cut and color for each model, then design two personality-revealing finishes that exemplify versatility and trend.
The resulting photo session, says Pitchford, marks the first time the Matrix Global Artistic Design Team has partnered with the U.S. Artistic Design Team to convey this unique trend to the U.S.
"The goal is to inspire stylists to reinterpret these looks or create new ones based on their own alter egos, and ultimately do the same for their client," she says.
"Today, clients demand individuality and personalization," says team member Nicholas French. "All of the looks in the collection show the versatility of the cut. This is far more exciting and creative for the hairdresser."
Benni Toqnini (left) and Daniel Roldan (right), with Troy Alexander and Cynthia Pitchford discuss finishing for model Amy's first look. Matrix Design Team Members established a basic shape and color design, as in Amy's highlift blonde bob, then riffed off the foundation for dual style expressions.
French worked on several of the looks in the session, including Amy, the blonde shown here. "The quiff needed ‘dresswork' and was created by using Vavoom Height of Glam Volumizing Foam on dry hair, with inch-and-a-half irons on-base, and was then blown out with a round brush and styled out with a large comb and Vavoom Extra Full Freezing spray."
The styling products provided flexibility, but the key to the session's success, says French, was keeping the imagination free. "The most challenging part was being able to work as a group on individual hair designs," he says. "We had to work as a very closely knit team."
French says, "Although the group is very diverse, there is a great mutual respect, so there was a very positive energy each day of the shoot."
According to Pitchford, these trend-setting styles allow portions of a client's personality to break through, "in the most unexpected places ... shaped with a strong profile, disrupted by texture, injected with color. The silhouettes for day and night define duality."
All of the looks were created using the C.R.A.F.T. techniques, the Matrix training methodology that is being rolled out coast to coast this fall. Matrix and its Design Team will showcase the "Individuality" trend and the techniques used to achieve the looks, then will work with participants in a hands-on class following each presentation. For more information, contact connect@matrix.com.
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