Careers: What is a session stylist?

What is a Session Stylist?

Session styling is one of the most revered elements of a hairdressing career. Some combine it with a salon stylist career, while others are able to commit totally to session work. We spoke to two successful session stylists about their career journeys so far.

Daniele de Angelis

Is Academy Manager at the Toni&Guy Academy in central London. He is a valued member of the international artistic team, combining session work with his job as Academy Manager. How much of your job is session work?

Daniele De Angelis: As Academy Manager, my main role is working in the academy, then on a Saturday I work in the salon with clients. In my spare time I work on photoshoots and at fashion shows. I started work in the salon, then progressed as an educator. Sessionwise, I work at the Men’s Fashion Week and London Fashion Week every season, as well as working on our campaigns and collections. Every hairdresser needs to start their career in the salon; it’s the place to build your confidence and your skills. It’s the balance you need at the beginning of your career.

CH: Give me a few examples of session work you have done

DDA: Toni&Guy support a lot of up-andcoming talent and it’s great to work with passionate and enthusiastic people. In the past decade I have worked with some amazing new and established names, such as Vivienne Westwood, Tom Ford, Giles Deacon and at events such as the British Fashion Awards. For me, everything has to have a beauty; when the hair fits perfectly into the puzzle you know you’ve done a good job.

CH: What type of session work do you find the most challenging and why?

DDA: The most challenging thing is time. Time is what can be the difference between a nice, relaxed job and a crazy five minutes. The biggest challenge is when a model arrives late from another show and you have to do the hair in three minutes, instead of 20 minutes and make it fit with the rest of the model’s looks.

What steps would you advise someone just entering the industry to take in order to move towards becoming a session stylist?

• Have a strong foundation in general hairdressing skills and knowledge.

• People think session stylists only style hair – they don’t, they have to prepare wigs and create styles out of hair pieces. Make sure you are fully qualified in all the cutting foundations.

• Start your career as a salon hairdresser then move in the session direction after a few years. Spend time with someone who dresses hair.

• Reinforce your hard and soft skills in the salon, you will need them backstage.

• Build up contacts who are already in that world and ask to assist them for free to get that experience.

• Don’t expect to immediately earn lots of money from session work; it’s about creating connections and a new network.

• Don’t contact agencies until you have more experience. They will want to look at your portfolio and it can be disheartening if you get turned down because you haven’t perfected your skills.

Elizabeth Rita

Is a freelance session stylist and bridal hair expert as well as an experienced make-up artist. She is also a member of the Hairdotcom Art Team.

Concept Hair: What appealed to you about session styling?

Elizabeth Rita: I have always had a passion for hair, even as a child. I modelled when I was younger which meant I got to see some incredible hairdressers first-hand on photoshoots and on the runway, this was a fantastic window into what I knew my future could look like.

CH: How did you get your break?

ER: I got my break by sheer perseverance and continually setting up my own shoots with photographers and practise, practise, practise! Eventually people saw my work. This was before the days of social media, so I actually had to meet people before they hired me and that led on from one job to the next. I signed with Alchemy Artists 10 years ago and haven’t looked back!

CH: Give me a few examples of session work you have done in different areas and the different skills that were needed for each job.

ER: I have just designed the hair and makeup for Maisie Peters’ music videos, and I created a really cool, young London look for her. For this job I also had to think about continuity throughout the music video to make sure the hair and makeup matched the storyline.

A different area of my job that I love is doing is the posters and promos for musicals. This means I get to work with wigs. For example I worked on both the 9-5 musical and the Rocky Horror Show, both of which involved wigs and character makeup.

High fashion is also a love of mine. When I headed the Dior Trunk Shows in London that was incredible, I loved the whole experience from the first prep day to the last show. I had to get the ‘OK’ for everything from Dior’s Paris head-office and had to make sure every model looked pure perfection. It is a high-pressure role, but I loved every second.

CH: What steps would you advise someone just entering the industry to take in order to move towards becoming a session stylist?

ER: I know everyone says work really hard, which is obvious but on-top of that I would say be available and be your best-self on every job. I would also say reach out to established session stylists and ask to assist them, this is much easier to do now because of the world of social media.

“Reach out to established session stylists and ask to assist them.”