Source: Frazer Harrison / Getty
Brock Collection were the winners of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Award in 2016 and presented a strong, feminine show illustrating their classic florals. The makeup showcased a brown, suede smokey eye and the hair was a beautiful braided, crotched bun. The hair looks were sponsored by Dyson.
While every model rocked the hairstyle, it was interesting to see how the romantic feel was recreated on the Black models with natural hairstyles. Lead hairstylist, James Pecis explained exclusively to Hello Beautiful, “If we’re going to do a look, I try to think of the girl. She’s probably going to have that show the rest of the days and the next day, so I’ll be like, let’s not put wax in her hair.”
Source: Danielle James / Hello Beautiful
For model Semile (pictured above), James explained, “Her hair is in such good condition and I’ll be seeing her every day for the next month, multiple times a day. Most of the time what we usually do is use a moisturizing cream that sucks it in a bit so it shrinks it, but sometimes I just moisturize it and diffuse it. If the top gets a little frizzy, sometimes I just twist it down.”
Source: Danielle James / Hello Beautiful
Impressed with Pecis’ (a white man) knowledge of natural hair and the complaints from models over the years of people not being able to do their hair and makeup behind the scenes, “The first photographer I ever started working with shot a lot of Haitian girls (Mark Baptiste…it was a long time ago), so I had to learn on the spot. I was still assisting then. Back then, everyone had weaves, it was very different.” Bethanne Hardison explained at the ORS Olive Oil NYFW VIP Event on the Women Of Color In Beauty And Fashion that Naomi Campbell was one of the first models to start wearing her hair in weaves. She wore her hair in a weave as not to “complicate things” behind the scenes and continue to get jobs. It’s liberating in 2018 to see backstage there are more hairstylists of color and more diversity on the runway. Pecis states, “As girls have gone natural on the runway, I think it’s the coolest hairstyle we’ve seen in years.”
Source: Frazer Harrison / Getty
Pecis further explains, “I used to really get frustrated because first of all: there would be a Black girl in a show, an Asian girl..sometimes. Then there would always be a Black hairdresser on the team and the Black girl would always go to the Black hairdresser and I thought it was really weird because we all should be able to do hair. So now, that I’m leading and not assisting, everyone on my team is able to do everyone’s hair.”
Source: Danielle James / Hello Beautiful
Before parting with Pecis as the show was about to start, he added about the importance of haircare, “When you have girls going natural, it’s the longevity of the hair that’s really important. It’s educating people so they are not using….”
Honestly, as Black woman, it was liberated to have someone in a predominantly white fashion show educated on Black haircare and wanting to know even more. As we parted ways he added, “It’s an exciting time for hair.”
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