Headpieces, head props and uniquely unusual hairstyles are very important aspects of runway shows and photoshoots. Unfortunately, though, we usually see the final results on a runway or in a shoot, rather than the time-consuming creative process behind such pieces and styles. This is the main reason why visionary Japanese-born, but New York-based Tomihiro Kono, a genuine master in the art of hairstyling, decided to change things with a book about his work.
A few months ago Konomad Editions published the 232-page volume Head Prop: Studies 2013-2016 (distributed internationally by Idea Books), a very intriguing documentation of the sculptural works the hair stylist created in the last few years (plus some unseen works).
Tomihiro Kono grew up in a mountain village in southern Ehime where he discovered the fundamentals of hairdressing and learnt the secrets of geisha hair.
He then moved to London, where he started working for different magazines such as Dazed & Confused and i-D, creating for them bespoke pieces, and, more recently, he relocated to New York.
In his career he has worked for designers as different as Jil Sander and Junya Watanabe: the latter first asked him to collaborate on his Autumn/Winter 2014 collection.
The hairstylist created for Watanabe some of the most extraordinary and memorable pieces, going from geometrical foam sculptures trapping the models' heads to coloured bobs and vinyl circles dynamically surrounding the heads of the models like futuristic halos.
Head Prop could be filed under the "architecture" rather than "fashion" category as the volume is divided in three illustrated sections exploring via photographs, sketches and photo grids (in his work Kono has been inspired by various art movements, but also by the work of German husband-and-wife team Bernd and Hilla Becher and their grids of architectural landmarks such as industrial water towers and steel mills) the various main themes: forms (such as circular shapes and lines), materials (imagine a world of ropes, wire mesh, felt, plastic bottles and rubber tubes...) and actual experiments with hair.
The main point of the book is unveiling the hairstylist's creative process and working method: Kono fills a page with his background research including visual images - for example collages of multiple heads of statues - and studies materials, then starts planning and making the prototypes, passing through a process of trials and errors and eventually getting to the final piece.
The result is usually incredibly striking, but it is clear that mathematical, geometrical and architectural principles rule the hairstylist's world: for some of his most amazing styles, Kono seems to have made calculations and divisions, while always managing to preserve in each and every piece an element of childish glee.
There are headpieces that may be considered as architecturally surreal, punkish or simply crazy in this book: they call to mind the Bauhaus, they point at Surrealism, they borrow from Dada, they may be filed under Fluxus, and they can surely be catalogued as wearable art pieces inviting the readers to look at the beauty of form.
There are a few Japanese events to take note of for Kono's fans: his book will be celebrated with an exhibition - "The Study of New Head Design" at Gallery Place by Method, Shibuya,Tokyo (from 1st to 26th August) and with another exhibition at bookshop POST (2-10-3 Minami Ebisu, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; 17th to 27th August).
Unable to go? Don't despair: just get the book (or have a look at Tomihiro Kono's Tumblr) and pay close attention to the process behind each piece and not to the final results, it will definitely help you unlocking great inspirations and discover a new research method.
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