But I've always had quite a strong idea about hair, and strong opinions about the way I like people to look. Granted, it was funny to work on my own - there was nobody to offset ideas with, it was just about my own thoughts.
And in a photography studio, I'm part of a collaborative team. At a fashion show, the aim is to hopefully promote what the designer is trying to get across to their audience. **Well, whenever I go into a project, even though I'm normally a part of a group of other creatives, that’s always my focus. How did you find the process of putting together a project that focuses so purely on the hair? **Your work is usually seen in the broader context of a runway show or editorial image. In that respect, I think of this more as a published version of what anyone can do. Everybody today has the platform and the ability to create their own things, because everyone's got their own content. It's almost been done in reverse - taken from my Instagram ideas and then made into a book.
And I suppose that it's a book of our time, really, because without Instagram, I wouldn't have done this book. So I wouldn't say it's a photography book, it's a book of ideas. We all carry these libraries of references with us, and it just so happens that mine got made into a book. If you're into food, you take pictures of your food, for example. **Well, everyone uses their phone to take pictures of the world around them. **You've described it as “a sketchbook of ideas” rather than a photography book. I mean, of course, some of the hairstyles in the book aren't really things you can do at home, but in general, it's a compilation of ideas that I've seen on people somewhere, at some time out in the world. I've always been really inspired by real beauty and a real sense of how people actually do their hair, so I really wanted that to be central to it. Once I'd started working on it, it sort of moved in its own direction. I’d have models come to the studio and I'd do their hair and take a snap on my phone. And then during lockdown, like a lot of people, I often thought about what was going to happen with my career, and I continued doing these hair tests on my own when people were able to start getting back together. **It was in part through being backstage and doing hair tests with designers, where you often take pictures of what you've done on your phone. Hi Guido! So, how did #HAIRTESTS **come about?