Sneak Peak

Quick post just to give you guys a sneak peak at a photo-shoot I was involved with, hence the very small, tight crop image. The photo was taken by myself on my iphone. Details to come. What I can show you is some reference photos I used to come up with the hair inspiration. In the meantime check out my other sneak peaks.

Pre-emptive strike

An article I wrote for Matrix Magazine.

Whenever I hear bad news I tense up. I tell myself to think logically and to breathe slowly. A voice on the phone says, " I have been diagnosed with cancer.'

The young women on the phone is Lindy. We have shared stories about favourite books, lost love, foreign cities and risotto recipes for the better part of ten years. She is well travelled and well spoken. We talk about everything from Naomi Wolf's Beauty Myth to Naomi Watts in King Kong. She used to be a model in the early 90s dropping such trivial matters to study history. She is tall and pale with a beautiful head of strawberry-blonde hair that she would sweep out of her eyes when she spoke to me.

Healthy.

But the voice on the phone sounded lost. On one hand she spoke clinically and detached about Dozorubicin, Pamidronate, Disodium, decreased blood cells counts and increased risks of bleeding. Of having no appetite and the vomiting. All of which she could cope with. But the voice starts quivering, how could she cope with losing her hair?

No hair would be a badge that she was sick. People would treat her differently knowing of her sickness. How could she get on with her life, how can she face the world without any hair?

She told me she would start treatment one week from now. I gave her some phone numbers of wig shop I visit for fashion parades and photoshoots. Then I told her she should cut the hair off before it fell out. Better to take control now than be passive.

Pre-emptive strike.

I make a house call to Lindy two days after her first treatment. I'm meet at the door by her husband and a beautician friend who is there to cheer her up. Lindy is in the kitchen brewing up a tea made up by her naturopath. "All I need is my doctor, my naturopath, my beautician and my hairdresser." Cheers to Team Lindy, she now has an entourage.

In the lounge room is a chair with a mirror, which is set up for the big chop. And while Lindy brushes her hair for the last time I wrap her in a gown. Clumps of brittle hair easily fall from her head. "The Doctor warned me about this, so I understand what you mean. Cut it off now rather than watch it fall away."

I ask her if she wants to keep the hair for posterity. She declines. Hair is dead once it's cut from your head. It would be a reminder of all this. So I take my scissors and begin cutting her long locks til only a half-inch remains. Then I plug in my clippers and buzz cut the rest off. I can see where her scalp is irritated and bald even though her hair is less than one mm short. I place a hot wet towel over her head, then apply a mixer of shaving cream and moisturiser and shave the remaining whiskers off. After, I rinse her head and apply more moisturiser.

After some time in the bathroom contemplating her new look she reappears, her striking eyes a little teary. Lindy assures us that she will be ok. As I place a slightly darker than natural long strawberry blonde wig on her head and begin to cut and set it, Lindy's best friend arrives and doesn't notice that Lindy is wearing a wig. This makes Lindy very happy. I tell her about other clients who are now growing thier hair back after chemotheropy, and how most survivors have stronger hair now than they did before., due to better diet and lifestyle.

One year has past since Lindy had the chop. Her hair is still short, but no longer brittle. She pops into the salon regularly to chat and have her wig styled, which she now has in different lengths and styles that I have set and cut. Her favourite is her curly, bright red one for going out and parties.

Special thanks to Lucinda for editing prowess.

Useful links for Melbourne

Cancer Victoria, Peter Mac Cancer Center, Creative hair products.

London- Cancer Research, Wigs Of London

New York-Cancer Care, Wigs by Joseph Paris

Shake it baby. Polaroid.

In a recent interview by Style Street I revealed a new project I’m currently working on.

A little book of Polaroids. Here is a sample.

A portrait of Amber Valletta and myself.

Style Street: So why blog?

Jean-Paul Rosette: My friends are black collar workers, so when I asked them what they were working on, they would show me their CD, building, short film etc, and I felt like I didn’t really have anything physical to show besides the photo shoot or magazine spread, so the blog is my way of addressing that. Perhaps it’s my reflection on the semi-permanent nature of hairdressing. And a way of sketching out ideas and my thoughts about current trends and the industry.

Street Style: Future plans.


Jean-Paul Rosette: Putting together a little book of Polaroids. I’ve taken thousands of these things over the years. I like the format. It’s imperfect, instant and disposable all at the same time.

Photos of Amber Valletta, Alyssa Sutherland and Unknown taken by Jean-Paul Rosette.

Born to be Mild- Neoclassic Man

This article called Neoclassic Man was originally written for The Hub Magazine. I thought I'd share this with you.

What’s a modern man to do? What with the weight of the world on his shoulders: interest rates, the global economy, duties around the house, baldness, rising trouser waist lines – not to forget ever-expanding waist lines – coupled with the compulsion to check the crackberry and i-phone at every given moment whilst keeping the trouble and strife happy. What’s a modern man to do in an age of rapidly changing expectations? Even the most rebellious men about town amongst us are questioning themselves.

“Am I suffering from change fatigue?”

It seems, the tide has turned for men’s hair and men’s clobber, now favouring a more groomed and slicked back, parred down approach ala Don Draper from the popular US hit TV show, Mad Men. Men, it seems, on the surface at least, have finally grown up. It’s the logical next step. Gone are the days of hogging your girlfriends straightening irons, or sporting elaborate multi-directional hair (I know you’re out there).

Thanks largely to the fashion world’s continued obsession with Tom Ford and his new muse actor Nicholas Hoult – star of Channel 4’s coming of age drama Skins, and Ford’s film A single Man – there has never been a better time than right now to neaten up and carry a comb in your back pocket.

If – like me – you followed the Milan men’s fashion shows from January in magazines and online, chances are you might have thought you were clicking through a casting call for Mad Men, or one of those late night war films. It seemed as though every model, fashion editor, photographer, stylist, and man-about-town caught on one of those hip street-style blogs was rocking a side parting and slicked back.

Modern man is neoclassic, he puts style over fad. This is quintessentially men’s hair at its best. Think of it like the backbone of male grooming. This is so refreshingly understated and unpretentious. Minimum fuss and maximum efficiency. Of course, the boys in Milan already knew that. Just check out the flagship Dolce & Gabbana Barbiere in Corso Venezia. The real question that modern man needs to answer is, where to find a decent barber?

Why not try the oldest barbershop in London, Truefit and Hill barbers who offer a close shave and a chat. Or across the Atlantic, VL Studio, 198 7th Avenue, New York, (212) 929-3039. Its where Scott Schuman, he of The Sartorialist fame, goes to get his locks seen to.

When in Melbourne, Australia, go and see Nick at All The Kings Men. A friend said it best, “They combine the unpretentious charm of an old-school barbershop with the reassuring artfulness of a ritzy salon, without all the hair tonic, herbal tea and unsightly fauxhawks.”

Speacial thanks to Rachael Oku from Creative-idle.

Images Dominic O’Keefe, Eddie Tucker from models.com, Jon Hamm depicted in Mad Men, street style photograph courtesy of The Satorialist, Dior Homme 2010 and Nicholas Hoult For Tom Ford.

Louise Brooks

“I have a gift for enraging people, but if I ever bore you, it`ll be with a knife”.

When you talk about the bob, it all started here.

Mary Louise Brooks (November 14, 1906 – August 8, 1985), generally known by her stage name Louise Brooks, was an American dancer, model, showgirl and silent film star, famous for pioneering the bob haircut. Brooks is best known for her three feature roles including two G.W. Pabst films: in Pandora’s Box(1929), Dairy Of A Lost Girl (1929), an Prix de Beaute`(Miss Europe) (1930). She starred in 17 silent films and, late in life, authored a memoir, Lulu in Hollywood.

http://www.pandorasbox.com/

http://louisebrookssociety.blogspot.com/

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000315/