Hair has always been a powerful symbol. Women cut it short in the 1920s to signal liberation while men wore it long in the 1970s as a rejection of the status quo. When these looks and other defining styles of the decades entered the mainstream, they became identified with an era… but they don’t get stuck there.
“This collection was a reflection of the past and also an illustration of how we create beauty for the future,” says Anna Manukyan, senior director, education and creative, Ulta Beauty. “Some decades leave a very strong imprint on our minds, and these looks show how beauty transcends time and how we have evolved it.”
Instead of simply reproducing the silhouettes, the expression of each era has been re-imagined. The duo spearheading the project tapped into the power of technology and the magic of teamwork.
“We wanted to honor those decades during which we felt something very significant was happening in hair, beauty, and fashion,” explains Pro Team Member Danielle Keasling, who along with fellow Pro Team Member Michelle O’Connor took the lead on this collection. “And we didn’t want to replicate the looks, we wanted to modernize them. Some of it is exaggerated because, well, that is what Michelle and I do.”
O’Connor and Keasling took an advanced approach to planning the photo shoot, using images generated by artificial intelligence to inspire them.
“I feel a responsibility to create things people haven’t seen before, and AI can be one of the greatest tools for that,” says O’Connor. “I talked to AI about what I was imagining in my head, describing it in words, and seeing an image pop up. You go through a lot of iterations, until you have refined it.”
PARTY CENTRAL
The collection comes together as a cohesive whole because of careful planning and collaboration, say the two artists.
“So often as stylists we’re obsessed with the hair, while photographers are so good at looking at the ‘Big Picture’—the mood, the energy the model is giving off, body positions—and that is why all these different designs come together so beautifully in one group shot,” says Keasling.
“In conversations with our wardrobe stylists, we talked about what it would look like if all these models were at the same party,” O’Connor adds. “We brought this story to life by making the makeup and wardrobe elevated, but without teetering into costume.”
CREDITS
Hair: Ulta Beauty Pro Team and Ulta Beauty Design Team
Makeup: Ulta Beauty Pro Team
Photographer: Jessy J Photo | @jessyjphoto
Wardrobe: ALTORRIN
Production: ISP Creative @ispcreative
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