I’ve always had an infinity for fantasy and childhood tales…one of the fables that always comes to mind is Lewis Carol’s “Alice In Wonderland” & “Through the Looking Glass”. The inspiration for this collection was fueled by my imagination to reimagined the classic fairytale.

image by Genna Yussman Greene/ Absolute Studio

I wanted to create more of an avant garde interpretation and chose only a few of the standout characters to develop for this collection. The obvious selections, Alice and the Queen of hearts and I chose to do the Mad Hatter.

hair prep, Alice’s headers and custom earrings

Of course I enlisted the help of Genna Yussman Greene at our studio, Absolute Studio. She would curate the wardrobe as well as doing photography and Micah Severo would be the make up artist for this collection.

Of course preparation for this took a very long time; several months and several purchases of hair extensions from Ebonyline and Doctored locks with various lengths but I got a great deal on 22 inch hair extensions.

The hair took 6 month to prepare as I had a full schedule of traveling for shows and taking care of my clientele behind the chair. I would have to order several lots of hair extenisons wait for them to arrive.

I had to color all the hair prior to using them. They had to dry and be styled and I made from three front lace wigs all hand sewn. Top hair pieces that would adorn each model and wanted to take it to another level by fabricating matching earrings made of hair that would be worn by each model.

Lots of money was spent on hair and materials. I fabricated a metal base for the Queen of hearts. I would take large sheets of red hair and cut and roll them into roses. I mixed variations of red hues to layer and to show off the texture of the hair.

it’s all in the details…it’s all about the hair

Rachel’s I mean, “Mad Hattresses” big close up

I decided I wanted to book a female model of the Mad hatter/ Mad Hattress. For her hair I created a long black front lace wig of which I colored large panels of violet and blue. I again fabricated hair “Mats” by using Redken’s Control Addict 28 and an iron to fuse the hair together. Afterwards hair was cut into squares on which I made a patchwork hat using a active mesh base. Very lightweight but strong enough to support the shape of her hat. I also rolled hair like I had done on the Queens hair and layered them around the rim of the hat.

For Alice I created a blonde wig with bright yellow panels and a created this huge flower-like piece that was made from custom yellow mat hair. Folding and glueing the piece like an accordian. I played around with the yellow pigment to get variations in tonality.

The earrings were a lot of fun, tedious and required a lot of time and patients. I twist wrapped kanekalon hair around florist wire using a hot glue gun. After the pieces were done I shaped them and hand sewn them together to become pairs of earrings for each model to wear.

I’m obsessed with the wardrobe Genna put together. Dark hues with bright tones and brooches, textiles and safety pins were added to each model. She made sure to layer texture and distinction of each character quite obvious.

It’s all in the details. Discussing make up with Micah

We photographed each model on dark, velvet backdrops with props for a darker vibe. Cincinnati, make up artist Micah did beautiful, clean makeup. I love the bee stung lips he did on the queen of hearts.

For model selection I booked Olive Flick of Heyman Talent Agency to play Alice, Margarita Karizskaja to play the queen of hearts and Rachel Madison to portray the Mad Hattress.

The shoot took all day of ten hours and very cold as we were working in the month of December. Everyone did a fabulous job of transforming all the models into the characters.

All about the make up with Rachel and Micah

We were honored to have this collection in six page spread in the limited edition, hard copy holiday collection in Faddy Magazine in Italy. When I received my copy in the mail I had cried…I hadn’t seen our work in that format. After all the work, time and money this collection required it was all worth it seeing it in print. I am so grateful to this team.

Credits

Models:

Olive Flick (Heyman Talent Agency) @oliveflick

Margarita Karizskaja @margarita_karizskaja

Rachel Madison @officialrachelmadison

Hair / Creative Direction / Earrings | Matthew Tyldesley @hairbymatt

Photography / Wardrobe / Set | Genna Yussman Greene @gennayussman

Make Up | Micah Severo @micahsevero

Assistant | Tony Welscher

Official making of video for “Wonderland Holiday”

I have been waiting to work with fashion photographer, Erik Branch for a while now but our schedules never permitted until this past fall when I had the opportunity to connect with him.

He asked me what I wanted to shoot and I quickly created a vision board. I contact Genna Yussman Greene for wardrobe & contacted make up artist, Rebecca Renee Rhodes.

The great thing about photoshoots are networking; I had recently worked with Rebecca on another project and asked if she would interested just as I had with model, Magon Faye that we just worked with and amazing model, Olive Flick who I’ve had the pleasure to work with a few times prior would be perfect models for this collection.

Rebecca had just won a regional make up contest so I knew she would be perfect for creating the make up on both models. She created an exaggerated winged eye with shades of orange and black, strong defined brows and dark, matte lips.

For hair I wanted to create some braids with texture. One thing I like to do sometimes for photoshoots to maximize looks, I’ll create asymmetry in the hairstyles so that both sides are different. Ideally the model can change her body position and a second look is produced. Sometimes you have to go where the model’s hair wants to go as long as its cohesive with the rest of the style. I wanted some 80’s texture so I did some “Rick Racking” (figure 8 wrap hair around a long hair pins) followed by heating up the section afterwards with the Sam Villa Sleekr iron ad allowing to cool. Once removed it creates a really cool, texture that can be brushed and backcombed. I was able to adapt the style from one look to another quickly between takes.

hairstyle profile

The above look was the final third hairstyle I had created from Olives hair. At this point the hair had been so manipulated from braiding and crimping. So I created this side look by rolling the hair over and securing with pins. I brushed out her fringe and pushed it to the side and backcombed the ends for a fashionably, disheveled look. To give a tinge of polish I placed to faux pearl hair pins and viola, Olive was ready to rock the camera.

Nothing says classy like a french twist. I created this polished french twist on Magon. First polishing her own hair and to create volume. A directional blow-dry with Redken Guts 10 and a round brush was imperative to create the shape and to create shine. I finished the look with a few textured tendrils (Which I had really played up on Olive for cohesiveness) a swooping fringe adorned and finished with a braided flower.

a painters canvas: mua Rebecca shaping the eyes of model Olive

570A1551 fn-2.jpg — Image by Erik Branch

For Magon’s next look I did a sectional, I literally created several small ponytails and knotted them together. I fishtailed the hair into a ponytail and left some tendrils around her face.

Erik photographed each model separately as we would readying the model not on set. He did some group shots with both looks as well. We spent around 8 hours prepping models and photographing the models at Erik’s victorian home studio in Louisville, KY.

The above look on Olive was created by braiding pie sections and backcombing the rest of her hair onto in a mohawk. To alter her silhouette I took the ends of the braided hair and secured them over the teased, rolled hair.

Erik created two sets. One that was traditional white with bright, clean lighting. The second one was moodier and darker with an almost black backdrop, minimal lighting and some props.

Everyone did a fantastic job on set and the final images spoke for themselves. We were so honored to get published in the November 2018 of Beau NU magazine featuring the collection in a seven page spread. Thank you Beau NU.

fun on set with Rebecca checking social and Erik behind the lens

Credits

Model | Magon Faye @model_magonfaye

Model | Olive Flick @_oliveflick (Heyman Talent Agency)

Photography | Erik Branch

Wardrobe | Genna Yussman Greene @gennayussman

Make Up | Rebecca Renee Rhodes @porcelain_kween

Hair | Matthew Tyldesley @hairbymatt

The collection featured in Beau NU Magazine

OFFICIAL BTS video “Shadow & Shade”