You’ve inspired many to enter the world of hair, but what made you get involved? AB: I came to London around 1987 (and ended up living there for 21 years). I’d seen Trevor Sorbie’s artistic team in the Netherlands, and I was so impressed. I thought, ‘that’s what I want to do’. I wanted to make a career in hairdressing and ended up being with Trevor for 11 years as his art director.
Your title is pretty impressive – and lengthy! – what does it mean exactly? AB: I’ve been with the brand for 12 years but in my current position for the last two. I work with a team of 30-34 designers and we all work on everything – basically anything you see from Aveda, comes from our department. How our brand looks is my responsibility. As Global Creative Director, I’m also running three artistic teams – Europe, North America and Asia. After that I do product development. I think I’ve got a very interesting job; I do so many different things and I’ve always been that way. I think that’s what helps to elevate hairdressing to an art form.
So, back to the beginning – can you remember the fi rst haircut you did? AB: It was my friend Joyce, back in Holland. I was 14. I took her into the salon where I was working as a Saturday girl, and they said ‘oh my God!’. I knew I wanted to get into hair when I was 12. I went to see the fi lm 10 with Bo Derek, and I was so impressed
with her plaits, so I did it on all of my friends. My dad was a photographer so that was my fi rst photo shoot.
Tell us about your own personal style. AB: I never think about myself so much, which is the best part of the job! Since I was 14 I’ve worn black – it’s very slimming. I like simple, minimalist clothes; I’m very drawn to Japanese design, such as Comme des Garcons.
What’s the best part of your job? AB: Having the opportunity to travel and see lots of different things. I’ve been to Nepal three times and I’m going to the Brazilian rain forest next.
And the worst? AB: You always have to fi ght. I fought my way up in London; in the 90s I was one of very few girls – one of the fi rst girls to be a fi nalist for London Hairdresser of the Year back then [Antoinette went one further in 2004, taking home the title of British Hairdresser of the Year]. Even now, sometimes, it’s like ‘oh for God’s sake why don’t people understand?’ I could do with a little less of that.
Have you seen the relationship between hair and fashion change over the past few years? AB: I’m known in the industry for bringing fashion into hair. When I started shooting editorial in the early 90s, I never understood why all the hair images were just heads. I came in and started shooting people in full length
or half length. Hair is the fashion of the body; apart from clothing, hair is another element to express yourself. It’s a natural refl ection of fashion. I teamed up with designers, such as Alexander McQueen. I used his ruched dress, all the colours of the rainbow, as the main theme for my show at Alternative and used a lot of his stuff for other shows I did, which no-one else was doing at the time. I think designers had no respect for the hair world then, but because of my editorial background, I managed to break that down.
So do you think more hair brands sponsoring fashion shows is the right way to go? AB: Before it was fashion and beauty, but now the beauty business is part of the fashion business; so why not help designers? I don’t think our industry would be half as exciting without fashion. For us as a brand, it’s exciting and creates lots of PR, but when we sponsor a show, we want them [the designer] to comply to certain things, such as no fur, or leather. We tend to take over the backstage areas and make sure everything’s organic. We even set up water fountains at New York fashion week so people could just fi ll up rather than buying more bottles.
What makes your, and Aveda’s approach, so different to other brands when it comes to imagery? AB: When you look at my pictures, I always shoot with fashion photographers, not beauty or hair. If
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