report
A braid is a braid – whether in Solingen or New York. And yet it is a special job that a group of German hairdressers are currently doing at Fashion Week: They style the models.
From somewhere catwalk beats can be heard across the cool corridors of Canoe Studios in New York’s hip Meatpacking District. At the heart of the fashion spectacle, Solingen master hairdresser Raffaele Bianchi shines. “Just knowing that you are now in New York for Fashion Week is a completely different thing.”
Even though Figaro from Solingen has done a lot of backstage work, he has never styled models at Fashion Week in the Big Apple. All around him is a hustle and bustle of models, hairdressers, stylists and designers, excitedly running back and forth between clothes rails and hairdressing stations. In the staccato of hairdryer, spray, hairdryer, 33 hairdressers flown in from Germany, Austria and Switzerland have to keep calm.
“This is a completely different number here”
Bianchi and his colleague Laura Voria from Grenzach-Wyhlen in Baden-Württemberg are currently braiding a model, a very tight-fitting plait pulled back. That can be annoying. “Did I hurt you?” (“Did I hurt you?”), Laura Voria asks the somewhat annoyed-looking model.
Her long blonde hair should not distract from the clothes that the model will wear on the catwalk for the designer collective Flying Solo. “We just have to make sure that when they tell us something, we know exactly what they mean.” Bianchi shrugs.
Solingen and New York are not quite the same. “When I say I do my hair in Solingen, it’s really the everyday stuff – washing, cutting, blow-drying. The main thing is that you look a little good on your head and stuff. And doing your hair at Fashion Week is a completely different matter, because you work under time pressure here.”
Raffaele Bianchi and Laura Voria push their limits at Fashion Week – but the job in New York is a very special experience for them.
More appreciation for the hairdressing profession
This time pressure really motivates Claudia Glockentöger from Hamburg. After just a few days she is completely in love with New York, she says: “I have so much energy in me right now! It’s crazy because, yes – it totally flashes you. It totally takes you away. You still want to be a model , do another model, and you want to work so quickly one after the other. It’s crazy.”
It was made possible by “Grenzenlos” – an association of hairdressing businesses that want to revalue the industry – with events and a lot of community spirit. “At some point I no longer saw that hairdressers were not valued in society,” says co-founder Hussein Saleh.
I know mothers who say to their children: Don’t become a hairdresser, you won’t earn any money. And fortunately many others say: We can’t prove that, because thank God we are very successful and, above all, happy. And we also earn good money. And we want to show society in Germany again that the job is awesome.
From the village to the mega-metropolis
The Ravensburger and his team have put a lot of ambition into the New York project. “We received a contact from a colleague, but of course we didn’t just inquire for one person, but from 30 upwards.”
For example, the Thuringian master hairdresser Kristina Kunke, who came to the metropolis with a population of millions from the small town of Brückla near Hohenleuben. At home she runs a small salon. She still can’t believe that she’s there: “Crazy, crazy. Totally indescribable, crazy, exciting like a dream.”
Her colleague Nadine Schulze from Gößnitz approaches it with calmness as they braid a long, precise braid together. “We’re growing into this and we’re a strong team,” she says. “I feel up to it, yes.”
Things are turbulent behind the scenes at Fashion Week in New York.
“Show what a mega job this is”
After all, they’ve all practiced before – with the creative director of New York Fashion Week, Gary Baker. He came to the boot camp in Hanover especially for her. And yet everything is different and exciting, admits master hairdresser Sabrina Poser from Herford.
“We also do a lot of elaborate looks in Herford, but the hairdressing for Fashion Week is very specific looks that we have trained in advance,” she says. “We’ll learn something new too.”
That’s what 24-year-old Lisa Kahriev thinks, as she and her boss are currently giving a model a wet look. “I think this is a very good opportunity to show young people in particular what a mega job this is and what opportunities you have here,” she says.
Working to the limit, but having fun
It is currently being moved at the next seat. An emergency in Claudia Glockentöger’s team: A model’s strands came loose from her braid. She has to go to the catwalk right away. The hairdressers saved everything in no time. The woman from Hamburg beams with satisfaction.
“I went beyond my limits and that feels so good,” she says. “I’ll take that with me to Germany, and I hope I keep this energy for myself.” For two days they style cool heads together for New York shows. Then you can still enjoy Fashion Week in leisure mode.
But the working experience itself remains the greatest thing, and not just for Raffaele Bianchi from Solingen. “When you see it on global television and think: I did that hairstyle – no one can take that away from you,” he says beaming, while the catwalk beats boom next door.