Where does one go to find 12,500 pieces of pastel-colored, wool dreadlocks to weave into the hair of Kendall Jenner, Taylor Hill, Adriana Lima, Irina Shayk, Jourdan Dunn and Gigi and Bella Hadid?
The answer surprised Guido Palau too.
After Marc Jacobs told Palau at the end of July that he was inspired by director Lana Wachowski’s pink dreadlocks and that he would “love all the girls to have ‘Lana hair,’” the show’s lead hairstylist took to the Internet to find exactly that.
While looking online to find accessories he could use to attain the look, he stumbled upon Palatka, Fla.-based Jena Counts, who runs her own Etsy store: Dreadlocks by Jena. She specializes in hand-dyed, custom Falkland wool dreadlocks that cost about $115 for a set of 40, and also has her own web site, dreadlocksbyjena.com, where she takes custom orders.
Counts, who flew in for the show, said Palau reached out to her via e-mail and the two chatted on the phone about the project.
“When I contacted her, I didn’t think she realized what happens next in fashion. She’s been making hair for probably the last month. She made 12,500 pieces of hair, so each piece she’s made by hand,” Palau said. The ‘hair’ — which was made in about every shade of pink, purple, blue, burgundy, beige and brown — hung on racks days before in preparation.
Counts explained her process: She cuts each piece of wool to its desired length, boils it, rolls it, puts it in vinegar and then dyes it.
“All these kinds of different references were put into this ‘hair’ that’s been twisted and banded into the girls’ hair and then whizzed up and tied into a huge knot and it’s all left hanging,” Palau added.
In addition to Wachowski, references were ravers, acid-house music, Harajuku Girls and Boy George. Putting dreadlocks front and center on the runway may lead to the obvious question of, ‘Is this cultural appropriation?’ But when an editor backstage asked if Rastafarian culture influenced the hair, Palau said “not really, no.”
François Nars, the lead makeup artist at the show, said that because the hair was “so incredibly strong,” makeup had to be toned down. “We didn’t want to do something so over the top with makeup. The inspiration, the look was really the club kids, Boy George, this friend of Marc, Lana. That was the first inspiration for starting the hair — and trying to make the girl look beautiful.”
He maintained that eye makeup varied depending on the model’s skin tone and the color wool in her hair, but shadow in shades of green, lavender, burgundy and baby blue-silver were used with a little gloss on top. Brown false eyelashes were applied to the top and bottom of the eyes, along with “not too much foundation” and transparent lipgloss. Cheeks were bare.
Nail artist Jin Soon Choi said that she did pretty, pearlescent nails for the show, using seven new Marc Jacobs Enamored Hi-Shine Lacquer colors. Each of the seven pastels will be available for presale after the show at marcjacobsbeauty.com.
About 12,500 pieces of wool “hair” later, the Marc Jacobs show was about to start.