New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
‘Everybody is just so supportive’
Stylist shows off skills at New York, Milan, Paris fashion weeks
WESTPORT — Models strut, cameras flash, music blasts, spectators clap — fashion week is known across the world, where established and emerging designers alike showcase their latest dresses, handbags, casual wear, haute couture and beyond.
Though worldwide, fashion week comes at a local scale, too.
Creative Director and Owner of Artistex Salon and Spa Odete DaSilva went backstage to style hair for this year’s New York, Milan and Paris fashion weeks. She’s no stranger to New York Fashion Week, but this year, she took charge of her own team and flew halfway across the world for Milan and Paris’ shows.
DaSilva has styled for 28 years. In 2018, she won the gold in the Goldwell Color Zoom competition, which got her some connections with a team for New York Fashion week.
This season, DaSilva was a key lead hear stylist for Global Fashion Collective, which is a platform for designers to showcase their works.
“As a lead, I get to decide and produce exactly what’s going to hit that runway, but I also take into account that it is a fashion show,” DaSilva said. “We certainly don’t want hair being the only thing that walks down the runway.”
DaSilva said that she works with the designers to determine the look. Some hairstyles are creative, while others are muted, depending on the outfits.
In New York, her team was comprised of 24 members. She took seven core members of the team to Milan and Paris.
The stylists only have about an hour to an hour and a half to complete the looks for 35 to 52 models. The timing is dependent on the makeup, nail, wardrobe and rehearsal teams being on time, as well as the models.
“One thing I’m very, very adamant about is not being late,” DaSilva said. “You don’t want to be the one team everybody’s waiting for.”
Depending on the designer, hairstyles are either chosen weeks in advance, or right before the show, she said.
She said the hair has to complement the outfits.
“It’s amazing to know you’re able to have a part in that and see all of that walk down the runway,” DaSilva said.
DaSilva compared it to styling hair in a salon — or, “behind the chair,” as she put it.
“That person has to wake up and want to live in that hair every day,” she said. “Whereas on the runway, it’s much more of a production. That model knows that they are walking everyone else’s creation down the runway.”
DaSilva also said styling for the runway is artistic, as the hair stylists are collaborating with the designers and other artists, as well as what the host stage wants to see.
Milan and Paris fashion weeks are different than New York’s, DaSilva said. In Milan, the community comes together to celebrate it.
“It really blew my mind that it is a community event,” DaSilva said. “Whether they’re actually physically involved or not, it didn’t matter. They were all so supportive of each other, as a community, with how Fashion Week works.”
DaSilva said that in New York, it is all over the city and there’s a schedule. In Milan and Paris, she said, it’s more of a secret of what designers will show up and where they will be.
“For us, the first time seeing it, that was amazing because we just weren’t sure what to expect,” she said.
This year, Global Fashion Collective’s stages hosted designers, including Dryden Sereda, Gabrielle Champault, Carlton Jones and LUNALEE.
DaSilva said texture returned to hair during this season, which was the spring collection. Hair was natural and free-flowing with bends, which she predicts will become popular, rather than polished hairstyles.
In past years, slicked back hair and pulled back bottom pony tails were popular on the runway.
She also predicted that pigtails, side pony tails and fringe may become popular with younger generations.
“I was just happy to see that the texture was finally out there,” DaSilva said.
DaSilva plans on continuing to participate in fashion weeks, particularly next season’s in February and March, highlighting fall 2023 looks. This will include New York, London, Milan and Paris, and her team will be larger.
“Everybody is just so supportive of what everyone else has to do,” DaSilva said about working backstage with other stylists. “There’s nothing like it.”