Sunday, May 8, 2011

European Hair

By Melissa Colabella

When I was styling hair in Michigan, clients would frequently ask me, "what's the style like in NY?" In the suburbs of Detroit, there are polar opposites in race but a somewhat unvarying cultural demographic. Unlike the fairly small town of Royal Oak, hair styling in this melting pot of a city is multi-dimensional and multi-cultural. With the varying ethnicity's that live here, self expression comes slicked, textured, cropped, coiffed, colored, tousled, braided and buzzed.
I always wondered how homogeneous hairstyling could be in a country with virtually one ethnic group. On a recent trip to Europe, I checked out the styles in cities that weren't multi-cultural. Here's what came up.

Venice Italy:














Longish, slicked back and very traditionally European. This waiter was very proud of his hair and exhibited no hesitation when I asked to take his photo. In fact, he was curious to know why I didn't want to take more pictures.

Luzerne, Switzerland:

I was hard pressed to find a gentleman who agreed to having me photograph him, so I decided to capture these images the sneaky way... by sitting on the front steps of Deutsche Bank and photographing people secretly. There is a uniform aesthetic in Swiss men. Most gentleman in that city were tall, tanned, and noticeably athletic, even with their cigarette in hand. Most men wore their hair tightly cropped. 



















Munich, Germany:

The young Germans love their highly textured, medium length, trendy styles. Most German men wore their hairstyles proudly, regardless of whether it was short, long, casual, or overdone. 



1 comment:

  1. Great post! Always room for a shot of an international mullet!

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