With a celebrity clientele that spans Hollywood A-Listers to British TV, music and radio personalities, star stylist Kevin Fortune is taking tinseltown by storm. In his blog series, we go behind the scenes with Kevin as he coiffs the locks of some familiar faces.
What a joy it has been working on 4Music’s ROCK THE LOOK with Rimmel London!
I got to hang out with some of the UK’s top-selling artists such as Rita Ora, Lily Allen, Foxes and Tinie Tempah. Presented by my long-standing client, Miquita Oliver, and Grazia magazine’s ‘quiffantastic’ resident stylist Josh Newis-Smith, the series has been a dream-gig as a hair and make-up designer. Rimmel London has created a fantastic show, where we all came together to give viewers insights into each episode’s guest star’s forward-thinking personal sense of style. On the show, we put together looks on behind-the-scenes photo-shoots, inspired by the artists’ red carpet appearances and music videos. How much fun?!
For each episode, I got to research and dream-up hair and make-up looks that the audience would hopefully want to copy at home. Taking my lead from the guest-artists’ stand-out hairstyles and make-up looks, I got the chance to delve deep into many period-inspired styling techniques to adapt those key looks into something fresh and modern. Flipping hair over to create a stunning wave, adding accessories and cornrows to keep the look high-fashion and edgy – all in a day’s work.
It’s hard to pick a favourite look from the series – but everyone on set went crazy over a faux-bob style I created, to work beautifully with a hat accessory chosen by Josh.
It’s all about thinking on your feet when your work is being captured for behind-the-scenes footage and the crew’s eyes are on you. During the recording of one episode, I specifically wanted a matte, yet textured finish to the model’s hair, but what happens if you use too much product and there’s nowhere to rinse it out?! Don’t panic; you make it work without anyone blinking an irritated eye at you.
I’m not afraid to say that there is always room for improvement. I’m glad, as it means I’ll never stop learning. Being able to hang-out and keep a keen eye on the work of the incredibly talented styling teams of each guest-artist (and pick-up a few tricks along the way) has been a blast across the series.
Besides my busy session schedule, my partner, Martin, and I are gearing up for our September series of courses at the Academy. We are nearly fully-booked with a month to go, so I’m very excited to get back into the studio…after a quick Ibiza holiday that is!
Loving life!
XKevin