Photographed by Barry Druxman, here are tears of my natural hair and beauty editorial for Sophisticates Black Hair.
I recently stepped in front of the camera of photographer Barry Druxman to do a hair and fashion editorial for Sophisticates Black Hair. The shoot was creative directed by Jordan Anthony Swain and featured wardrobe pieces from La Maison de Fashions as well as gorgeous vintage pieces from the stylist’s, Drea MJ, personal stylist closet. Looks were perfected by hair and makeup artist Karen Bates-Ashley who rocked out a natural hair glam afro, a stylish natural pompadour chignon and a super diva loose curl.
I don’t model often, but when I do, I prefer it to have meaning. For me, this shoot celebrates natural hair and shows exactly how glamorous natural hair is.
Fashion has a hair problem. It’s deeper than cultural misappropriation. The fashion industry has a long-standing issue of cultural mis-association. It consistently associates the African Diaspora’s natural hair with everything except glamour. Kinky, curly natural hair is used to bring punk, urban, counter-culture and even so-called primitive aesthetics into the visuals of fashion media.
It’s a visual way that some creative directors choose to create a feeling of high-culture versus low-culture. As a result, there’s an unspoken idea in the cultural zeitgeist that natural curly, kinky hair that naturally grows from the head of a black person isn’t glamorous. Since the business of black haircare might potentially be a $500 billion industry (a.k.a. half a trillion dollars), this mis-association could cost fashion, and the arbiters of high taste, dearly.
I don’t receive this mis-association. There’s nothing low-brow about my hair. The talented team that I worked with on this amazing shoot drove that point home to me even further.
Scroll below for the tears and some behind-the-scenes video.
BEHIND THE SCENES
Behind the scenes photos and video by Jordan Anthony Swain.
