Jose Luis Salon Cooks Up Haute Hair at Annual Fashion Show

This guest blog article is by Lizzy Newsome.

Not to belittle the recent progress, but the Austin fashion “scene” is still newly emerging. Most of the local fashion energy seems to be directed at boutique trunk shows and the annual fashion week festivities. So the Jose Luis Salon 25th Anniversary Fashion Show glimmered in my calendar, and that is before taking into account that this is a HAIR fashion show.

Often gatherings of the stylistically minded in Austin fall short of the creative reputation maintained by our fair city. I had high hopes of witnessing some wonderfully weird couture at this event, and I was not disappointed.

The show started a bit suddenly, with the milling crowd being herded away from the bars and toward the slightly damp seating area at the end of the outdoor runway. Several levels of speakers came forward to announce the show, but due to some technical errors, much of the dialog was unintelligible.

Thus, much of my knowledge comes from prior study. The proceeds from the event benefited the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, a cause close to the organizers’ hearts.

The biggest technical error of the night? The shirtless men that were being used as set dressing for the show. Once the models took the stage, their Chippendales-esque ensembles made sense. But during the pre-show announcements, they seemed inappropriate. I also caught one bored escort checking his cellphone on stage.

More importantly, the show was pretty entertaining. Never having attended a hair fashion show before, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but now the bar is set pretty high. Their were three rounds of themed do’s, featuring a parade of half-clothed ladies with increasingly fanciful hair creations, marching down the stairs toward the audience. Hats fashioned from hair! A towering Siam temple! A hair sombrero!

The highlight of each round came when three of the models were seated on the stage to have their hairstyles transformed by some of the Jose Luis master stylists.

Hair became art in front of the audience’s eyes, and everyone loved it. The audience oohed in wonder, the models danced in their chairs, and the stylists glowed under the lights. They were truly confident as they remade their ladies, to the appearance of choreography. A lovely climax was added to the final portion of the show with the addition of Las Coronelas, an all female mariachi band.

I can only hope to someday need the hair sculpting expertise of the Jose Luis Salon. Thank you for the fantastic voyage.

Lizzy Jane Newsome is easily excited by large public gatherings or animals on the Internet. When she isn’t busy in her chosen career, you can find her feeding ducks. For more excitement, check out BriteShiny.com.

 

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary media pass for the purposes of covering the event. All opinions are my own.

 

Photos courtesy of Krista Delarosa of Krista Jude Photography.