Guido Palau, (commonly referred to by his first name only) is a British-born hair stylist, known as a leading trend setter in the fashion industry.
When you work with great people, you learn - about film, about clothing, about life, about sex.
I try to be aware of technology and Japanese animation and old Belgian paintings, and get all my references from bits of everywhere.
I worked in salons, where you do learn the basic sort of thing. But I didn't know anything about the kinds of things I'm doing now. I learned how to put hot-rollers in.
You may say, 'That's naïve of you,' and maybe it is, but in my mind, I'm celebrating every kind of woman. That's what a creative person does.
I have a total complex [because of my curls], though, because I got teased a lot as a kid.
I think now because of this whole social media thing, people obviously felt these things [about cultural appropriation] before, and they comment on everything.
I worked at a bunch of salons, and at one, a girl was going out to do a photo shoot for a women's magazine and brought me along to assist her. I remember going on that shoot and thinking, "God, this is great. It's creative, and you get to work with all of these other creative people. " At that point I decided that hair would be my in to fashion and all the things I thought I would enjoy - and did enjoy.
As the older ones, to understand that it is a different time, and young people look at fashion in a different way. . . It's just different. If we harp on about it, they'll feel like we're just old fuddy-duddies, so I just kind of get on with it. I still feel I've got things to say.
Fashion is emotional, and the way women look at it is emotional, so it's very important to try to connect with a woman's idea of how she might feel.
I'm very lucky that I've worked mainly with two amazing photographers in David Sims and Steven Meisel.
Every culture to me - be it Asian, African, be it whatever - is a source of reference. I don't think I'm 'stealing' it or anything.
People comment, and that's where we are now. It's the way the world is.
All hair is away from the face - there's no emotion and all of the personality is taken away. I envisioned the way a 'virtual girl' is drawn in a cartoon. Then I added these different colored extensions - white, red and black, which adds to the synthetic feeling of the hair. I used colors which looked most dramatic against each of the models' real hair. The different colors give you that pop of fakeness so we're not talking about reality. Like a futuristic princess.
Suddenly it was cool to have your hair lank. . . It was a whole different way of looking at things, and it shook up the whole industry.
When I think of the people I've worked with, all of them have great passion, and the passion is what keeps people inspired.
Beautiful things are different.
I got into hairdressing and moved from Dorset to London, where I got an apprenticeship at Vidal Sassoon. This was around '83 or '84. I was working on South Molton Street, which was then the epicenter of all the shops. It was like a catwalk. So I did my apprenticeship there, but I wasn't successful.
I used to have more meltdowns backstage than I do [now]. . . . It's not that it was ever cool, but right now, it just seems very uncool to have a meltdown. I'm not saying I'll never have one! But I've learnt to stop it just before it happens.
I wasn't as confident and creative in the beginning as I am now, so it was all very safe. But I was building my work, and it took me a long time. For a good five or six years I was just kind of bobbing around, doing everything and anything.
Even though the industry is very big and there's lots of money, when it gets down to it, whether it's a photographer or a designer, as well as a stylist or makeup artist, you're really only working with maybe four or five people on a project. It's all quite small and intimate.