Styling Junior Garr and the

STYLING JUNIOR GARR AND THE SPIRITUALS CHOIR

BY JEANETTE YOUNG

FASHION FEATURE EDITOR

In this month’s edition, I thought I would invite you into a snippet of my world. Most recently I have been working with an amazing artist called Junior Garr, who is a singer/songwriter and the founder of The Spirituals Choir.

Junior has embarked on some amazing projects since working with The Spirituals: the first being ‘The Black History Project’, which was aired on TBNUK and the second being ‘The Christmas Project’, which was filmed at the iconic St Paul’s Cathedral. Can you believe it?!

Junior’s most recent project gained a lot of media attention, and many people were blown away with their sound, the reimagined songs and the styling of the choir.

Oh, and let’s not even get started on the eclectic hairstyles… I had the pleasure of styling both projects, which was an amazing experience.

I decided to interview Junior

Garr to allow you to capture the essence of who he is and how

The Spirituals Choir came about.

How would you describe yourself in three words?

Intuitive, adventurous, creative

What made you start a choir, and how did you arrive at the name?

For the longest time, I have wanted to create something for Black History Month. In July 2020 I thought maybe I could form a choir to interpret some Negro Spirituals, and tell some stories around them that pertain to our current times. In August, my team put out a call to see if people would want to audition… and the response was quite overwhelming. We auditioned people virtually, picked the best singers and got to work. Towards the end of the project, we were trying to figure out what the name of the choir could be, but were running out of options. On the morning of the filming and recording, I got the name ‘The Spirituals’… It was a bit of a bold move but I knew it was the only suitable name for our community and our sound.

Who are The Spirituals?

The Spirituals are essentially a collective of singers, songwriters and creatives from all over London - artists in their own right. These guys and girls are amongst some of the most talented, warm-hearted and sincere people I’ve ever met, and it’s such an honour to work with them.

How did you land the project at St Paul’s Cathedral?

After The Black History Project, my vicar, Jamie, approached me with an idea of bringing hope to the nation over the Christmas period. Our current times meant we couldn’t attend the Christmas Carol services at our churches, so the idea was that we would bring the carols to the people of Great Britain - online. At that time the government had warned that they would be announcing another lockdown, so I suggested the only place we could pull something like this off would have to be in a massive space, like St Paul’s Cathedral. Jamie pitched the idea to the Bishop of London and she loved it, so we created something special.

Why did you decide to get a stylist on board?

Firstly, I love fashion, and I think style and presentation are essential to our human experience. How you present yourself is an external expression of your internal being, informing others of who you are. The job of the stylist is as important as the writing, arranging, composing and performance. Stylists aren’t just the icing on the cake; their role is intrinsic to the final product, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I also wanted to expose the choir (from its inception) to the idea of considering how they look and how they present themselves whilst performing. Every element of the project, including styling, is essential.

What was it like working with a stylist?

I loved the process of working with you, Jeanette, because you