A few days ago, Mare Filipič returned from fashion week in Paris, where he created hairstyles for the biggest fashion designers behind the scenes of fashion shows for autumn/winter 2014. Therefore, our conversation was understandably about current trends, about world capitals of fashion, about how you take care of your hair, about the most missed trend that women have unfortunately grabbed en masse...
After 14 years of working at the biggest fashion weeks, do you have the same feelings as you did at the first Fendi show in Milan in 2000?
The feelings are even better. As the oldest assistant, the top models of the season trust me, and since I am the most experienced, I take care of the models' hair before they go on the catwalk. Working at fashion weeks is never repetitive, I say you have a closet with a million drawers. And fashion week is a drawer that you only open once. After all, if you wanted to do the same hairstyle next time, Karl Lagerfeld would say: "Show me something new." You've already sold me that." You have to be constantly innovative, your brain has to be constantly looking for new, fresh, creative solutions. During fashion weeks, there are working extremes, which means that the working day lasts 20 hours. On the other hand, working in the Mare Dressing Hair Salon in Ljubljana is a great counterbalance to this. After every return from fashion shows, I bring modern equipment, products, new inspiration and knowledge, and fresh energy, which I pass on to my employees and my customers. This is what I say: yesterday I was "dressing" beautiful models in fashion shows, today I am grooming beautiful clients in the salons of Mare dresura friuse at Beethovenova Street 12 and Vodnikova Cesta 106 in Ljubljana.
What hairstyles did you spot on the streets of Paris, where you just returned from?
I notice things that disturb me more than beautiful things. When I arrive at fashion week, I am surrounded by a caravan of people from all over the world who have come to create beautiful things. And so the eyes get used to beautiful, more beautiful and even more beautiful things. The only thing I noticed and would point out is the colors on the hair: nice transitions, for example from dark to light. People used to dye themselves a certain color, but now the blonde turns into black or light brown, and the ends are quite bright. In the foreground are techniques in which you apply several layers of color by feel to create a larger graphic on the hair. You practically don't see a person who only has ordinary dyed hair.
What are the current trends?
It's hard to talk about trends because there are a million of them. Every designer wants to push forward his trend at a fashion show. But even big fashion houses like Louis Vuitton can't push the trend forward, because it's people who grab what they like. It is the movement of something that takes the herd. It would be difficult to point out tied or down hair, everything should be, but we need to know what to choose for a certain occasion and style. Ponytails are cool and youthful with certain designers, but you have to pay attention to the details that make a ponytail cool versus an unwashed ponytail. Designers use the ponytail because it is considered something youthful, and so brands like Chanel, for example, act younger, so they like to rejuvenate. Very "in" is glamorous grunge, that is, natural hair that is not exaggerated, but not boring. They are something, they are healthy, shiny, and look natural.
Nine years ago, we published your interview in City Magazine. Can we look at what has changed in all this time? What, say, is the biggest difference?
I see the biggest change in men, because ten years ago they were walking around in flip flops and surfer pants, they had grunge style hair, but now these men are completely different. They've got '50s-style haircuts, hair done with products, skinny pants and a vest, so it's a really total makeover. I could not speak of such extreme changes in women.
It's hard to talk about trends because there are a million of them.
Which fashion week do you like to go back to the most?
Everyone has their own specifics. I've worked in New York the fewest times, but I find it wonderful, it's more commercial, simple, useful things are done there. Paris is a beautiful classic, we do chic and special hairstyles there. London is crazy creative, it wants to be special, new ideas are born there, it has become an incubator for young designers, so London Fashion Week is no longer taken seriously. Milano is classic, polished.
Is hair the first thing you notice on a person?
Absolutely, I spot the hair from which I read everything. How good the hairdresser was, how good the color was, the graphics and hygiene habits of the individual, everything.
A trend that caught on, and in your opinion is considered the biggest fashion fad?
Without a doubt, hair extensions. Otherwise, long hair expresses self-confidence in a woman, but extensions do not.
