Meet mane man to the glitterati
STYLIST TO THE STARS CHRIS APPLETON TELLS SMARTDAILY WHY NATURAL IS IN FASHION
Authentic hair texture and wave are back in fashion, according JLo and Kim Kardashian’s hair stylist Chris Appleton. At the top of his game with nearly three decades experience, the celebrity hair guru believes the global pandemic has changed the way people maintain their locks.
“Right now it is all about natural texture,” Appleton says. “You will see with JLo (Jennifer Lopez) at the minute, she is wearing her hair naturally curly, which we have not seen for ages. Because of quarantine, people have got to play with their hair and find out what their real hair is like. They have all got a bit more handson. People are embracing natural textures so volume is back in and curly hair is back in.”
Given many of us spend our days in and out of Zoom meetings, ‘curtain bangs’ are also in, meaning pulling your hair back but styling the fringe curtain-style.
Appleton is responsible for iconic looks like JLo in her Super Bowl performance or Kardashian’s ‘glass hair bob’.
The secret, he says, is to not go too far with a look.
“I don’t make hair so crazy that it is like avant-garde because it then almost becomes like a costume,” he says. “That is not necessarily relatable. I always try to make something different but always keep it beautiful because that is what makes it iconic and long lasting. Sometimes the simplest stuff can be the most effective when it is done well. It doesn’t have to be as obvious as shaving one side off, or something crazy like that, it can just be beautiful if it is executed well.”
The 37-year-old’s other star clients include, Katy Perry,
Kylie Jenner, Ariana
Grande and Dua Lipa. Appleton’s obsession with hair started at eight, when growing up in Leicester in the UK he would “do my mum’s hair”and then got his first job in a hairdressing salon at 13.
“I liked the process of doing hair, the art form of it,” he says. “What I realised and what really got me into hair was the fact that, I noticed my mum would look in the mirror and her shoulders would go back and she’d stand a bit taller. I loved the ability that you’d have to transform someone through hair. It was emotional for me.” Appleton, who is Global Creative Director of Color Wow, still gets that same buzz from helping boost someone’s confidence, whether it be shooting a cover of a magazine, styling for a runway show or working with a big name celebrity.
“It is funny because I used to tell my mum she looked like a Hollywood star and now I work in Hollywood,” he says. “This is a completely different life to what I had in England.
Hollywood is the land of dreams. People come here and they either make it or they don’t.
“I don’t think I ever came here to make it as such. I just knew that if I was going to further my career, and work with more bigger celebrities that this was where I had to be because this is where everyone lives and does their jobs.”
Learning as much about the craft as possible has been key to his success.
“I made sure I learnt every aspect of hair,” he says. “From Fashion Week to salon, colour, extensions, so that when I came here I knew what I was doing. I’m incredibly dedicated to what I do. I am as super passionate about it at the age of 37 as I was when I was 13. The main goal is to make people look and feel great. When you get the combination of the two, it is kind of cool.”