I have a few pictures of my mom from the 1940’s where she had a perfectly placed large white Lily in her hair like Billy Holiday. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
A few years back I was in the process of making a solo record called Gorilla Girl and I needed a picture for the cover. I wanted to somehow recreate that glamour with flowers and decided I wanted an entire garden on my head. A girl can dream. I wasn’t sure how to accomplish this but I was determined to see my vision come true. I knew that my hair wouldn’t be able to hold all the flowers so I bought a round Styrofoam ball at the dollar store. It was about the same size as my head.
I made an appointment at Taz Hair, in Yorkville, in Toronto. My amazing colourist, Norm Wright, recommended a stylist by the name of Duyen Huynh and I presented her with the ball and a bag of flowers. She pondered the ball and I talked about my idea.
This is what we came up with. She took the ball and shaved the bottom off so it sat flat on my head and drilled a hole up through the middle and pulled my hair up through the hole. She then spread my hair over and around the ball. She took the flowers and pushed the 1 ½ inch stems into the Styrofoam until they felt secure. She added some bobby pins around the base of the ball to make it hold in place. The scale of my head was massive when she finished. Her artistry in placement and added touches were spectacular. It was so amazing I cried. Unfortunately I couldn’t fit my head in my car so my photographer, Amanda Schenk, had to drive us both to the studio as I lay reclined in the passenger seat.
I couldn’t be happier with the photos that were taken that day and the cover of the CD. Aaaaaaaand, I was also wearing a Gorilla suit. It seemed like a good idea at the time. The fab artwork was done by Roan Bateman.
The CD was produced by Ron Sexsmith!!! How lucky am I? One of my favorite song writers in the Universe. A genius with the voice of an absolute angel. His brilliant production of my CD made me sound so much better than I am.. Sorry, I got lost there…. I’m not promoting the CD. I’m promoting the hair!!
I ended up perfecting the flower technique on a smaller scale and have copied that style for more than a few New Years Eve’s… even adorning the flowers with Christmas lights. I cut my hair last year so I can’t create this look at the moment. . I hope I’ve inspired someone to try this… and if you do, please send me a pic.
Over and out.
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