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<h1 class="full">Laurent Philippon is a renowned hairdresser who revolutionized the industry with his product innovations. The editorial icon has lent his distinctive styling to campaigns for clients like Chloé, Elie Saab, Hermes, Givenchy, Missoni, Thierry Mugler, and Yves Saint Laurent, having collaborated with the likes of Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Gigi and Bella Hadid,  Vanessa Paradis, Tilda Swinton, and Hailey Bieber. From his earliest stint as an assistant at his father’s barbershop in the French Alps, to serving as Global Artistic Director at Bumble & Bumble, and presently as an ambassador for Olaplex, Laurent has long worked with hair as a medium for expression.</h1>

<h1 class="full">Sandhya Shekar, makeup artist and hairstylist famously responsible for Deepika Padukone’s iconic red carpet looks, caught up with Laurent in an interview that retraces the journey of his career.</h1>

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<h1 class="centre">Sandhya: Laurent, in one of your interviews you called yourself “a hair-thinking war machine.” As an artist how would you describe your feelings when you see different textures of hair?</h1>

<h1 class="centre">Laurent: Hair is a challenging material, as a hairstylist you can never say that you’ve done it all. There are so many different hair textures and head shapes that the ability of adaptation is key in our job. A mane is made of billions of filaments that can take so many different shapes. The creativity in hairdressing is endless. That’s what I find the most exciting about my job.</h1>

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<h1 class="left">Sandhya: Your journey with hair started very young. There is definitely a very interesting story there, can we hear more about it?</h1>

<h1 class="left">Laurent: The passion for hair came in very early as I grew up in an environment of hair and beauty through my dad‘s barbershop in the French alps. At age 13, after spending my days off school sweeping the floor and washing hair, I started playing with my girl friends’ hair and quickly understood that woman’s hair styling was my thing. Therefore at age 15 I started my apprenticeship and went on to participate in a lot of hair competitions. That gave me a lot of confidence.</h1>

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<h1 class="right">Sandhya: Military service and hairstyling are quite the dual career you had going on during those early days. How were you managing two completely different career paths? </h1>

<h1 class="right">Laurent: In the early 90s in France, military service was still mandatory. I found myself joining the firefighter regiment in Paris. It’s the best thing that could’ve happened to me since that’s what got me to the capital of fashion. Having all my Saturdays off the fire station, I went and looked for a part time job and ended up at the very famous salon, ‘Alexandre de Paris’ who was then styling hair for most of the iconic fashion houses including Chanel, YSL and Givenchy.</h1>

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<h1 class="left">Sandhya: You have been very inspired by renowned hair stylists Antoine de Paris and Alexandre de Paris. In fact, Alexandre took you under his wings at a very young age. What is the story there?</h1>

<h1 class="left">Laurent: Through mister Alexandre I learnt high end techniques of French coiffure and had my first introduction to the glamour world of fashion. Watching him do hair was like watching a ballet. There was so much precision and grace in his gestures. He had the ability of orchestrating grand hairstyles that would always come in to complement a woman’s silhouette.</h1>

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<h1 class="centre">Sandhya: How did you diversify from the old-school learning you imbibed from Alexandre and make it yours to create some of today’s current trends?</h1>

<h1 class="centre">Laurent: At age 22, after spending two and a half years with Alexandre I had the chance of assisting another great poet of hairstyling that is Julien d’Ys. He is the punk genius of hair and his approach was at the other end of the spectrum from Alexandre, his kit had everything but hair tools! He is the king of deconstruction and the first hairstylist to bring in ‘lived in’ textures, making his models look like real characters. He worked a lot with photographer Peter Lindbergh and was a big part of developing his iconic images.</h1>

<h1 class="centre">Through Julien’s eyes I understood the mission of a session hair stylist in fashion photography: giving women confidence, style and power.</h1>

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<h1 class="right">Sandhya: What was the transition like from doing conventional hair looks which comprised finger waves and French twists and moving on to Editorial looks?</h1>

<h1 class="right">Laurent: Those two very influential schools were a blessing, they gave me technical confidence and a photographic eye on hair. It took many years and many shoots to find my own style but the passion of creating new shapes, new ways of styling hair was always within me and remains so until now.</h1>

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<h1 class="centre">Sandhya: How did Bumble and Bumble happen, you have had quite a journey there and have also created some amazing products with them.</h1>

<h1 class="centre">Laurent: The journey with Bumble and bumble has been incredibly rich. Being able to create a hairstyling product from scratch is a hairdresser’s dream. Bumble understood before anyone that having hairstylists consulting for the conception of products is the key to a successful hair brand.</h1>

<h1 class="centre">Today, I also share my expertise with the amazing brand OLAPLEX. Their ingenuity in developing technology that literally repairs the fiber is very inspirational, bringing medical science at the service of beauty. I look forward to our collaboration in developing more exciting products.</h1>

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<h1 class="left">Sandhya: We have heard you have got a lot of inspiration from Sumo wrestlers in Japan, what is the story?</h1>

<h1 class="left">Laurent: Traveling is a big part of my inspiration. I feel lucky I got to travel around the world. I’ve always been super curious about hairstyles in different cultures. Japan is definitely a very interesting culture on that matter, the boundaries have been pushed in so many ways. Intricate hairstyles have been produced there through the different eras reflecting the sophistication of this culture.</h1>

<h1 class="left">India has also been a very big part of my inspiration, particularly the rituals of beauty and of course the styles religion has inspired all over the subcontinent. Captivating scenes I have witnessed in India are among my best hair memories. The sadhus and their particular beliefs translating in their hair is something absolutely mesmerizing. The delicate embellishments of a Hindu bride is entrancing. The bold and seductive looks developed in Bollywood is also something ravishing to me.</h1>

<h1 class="left">I could go on for days talking to you about the monumental hairstyles in 18th century France, the healer-braider I met in Mali, or the fascinating history of the Mohican fierce hairstyle in Northern America’s Indian tribes, but the best is that you get my book!</h1>

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<h1 class="centre">Sandhya: What is the most important aspect of hairdressing to you – creativity, technicality, suitability or style?</h1>

<h1 class="centre">Laurent: Even though in my early years, I was obsessed with technique, I find today that the eye is the most important. I see so many perfectionists who forget about who wears their creations, to me a real compliment on my work is “the model looks beautiful” rather than “her hairstyle is amazing”!</h1>

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<h1 class="right">Sandhya: You are a true Global artist given the countries you have worked in and the amazing people you have worked with. David Lachapelle had a role to play in your life, how would you say he influenced your career?</h1>

<h1 class="right">LP: David is a true artist, beyond fashion photography, he has a very strong aesthetic signature and a genius sense of composition. I feel blessed I got to serve his images with my hair, entering his world was an amazing eye opener. Hairstyles become a true narrative element in his images, it always takes mood boards, inspirational material and preparation ahead of the shoot, a similar organization you’d see for a feature film. So many beyond exciting memories are tied to David, his shoots are the funniest ever!</h1>

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<h1 class="left">Sandhya: Speaking of mentors in the new-age world of social media, do you think the role of a mentor has changed?</h1>

<h1 class="left">Laurent: It has changed, social media is like the biggest image library today, one can quickly develop an eye for beauty scrolling through instagram. It probably is the mentor of today. All kinds of tutorials are proposed by the ones who like to share their experience and knowledge. New media is a great tool to bring education to a large audience.</h1>

<h1 class="left">If you have a curious mind and artistic talent, much can be learned through the internet, but I believe ‘hands on’ classes or assisting are still the best way to learn as our job is all about small details that are maybe hard to share on a video.</h1>

<h1 class="left">I am fascinated to see the creativity among young hairstylists, some of them set the bar at a very high level and competition in our field is higher than ever. The real challenge is who will be the most diligent in the long run.</h1>

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<h1 class="centre">Sandhya: Let’s move on to your absolutely fascinating book- Hair: Fashion and Fantasy – what inspired you to write a book and what were your thoughts behind the knowledge you wanted to put out there? Any particular story you would like to share with us?</h1>

<h1 class="centre">Laurent: Strolling around libraries and bookshops have always been a passion, I came to realize that a book that would compile fashion esthetics and history of hair through a hairdresser’s eye had never been published. I really wanted to emphasize the fact that hairstyles are linked with human culture and wanted to point out the symbolic side of hair. Our individuality, how we wear our clothes, define our group or say who we are depends on how we wear our hair.</h1>

<h1 class="centre">Making ‘Hair: fashion & fantasy’ was a wonderful journey, I didn’t want to put any limits to my research and really worked on it as if I was preparing for a university graduation. Every aspect of hair culture is dissected through ten chapters celebrating the language and poetry of hair.

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<h1 class="right">Sandhya: Having grown up in an era with no social media or means of instant gratification, the process of seeking inspiration had so many layers to it. What is your advice to artists of this generation, who have access to the magical world of social media- where they can get inspiration and connect with mentors at a tap of a finger?</h1>

<h1 class="right">Laurent: Yes, we didn’t have social media to get a job we had to physically go and get it. It is such a wonderful tool to connect people and possibly find a job. My advice is don’t be shy and use your fingers!</h1>

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