Colour NOTES

Creative Director at John Frieda and Matrix Editorial Colour and Trend Ambassador, Zoe Irwin, tells us how she journeys towards colour

What do you love most about being a colourist?

I love the way colour can instil such confidence in someone as well as the total creativity it offers. It allows you to create something beautiful and give that wow factor.

Where do you go for colour inspiration?

Whatever I am looking to study, I go to a place where I can see it around me every day and fully immerse myself in it. When I was studying the terracotta and amber palettes, I spent ten days in Seville. I people watch, note the colour in different parts of the day, and see how it changes.

India

What are your favourite colouring techniques at the moment?

I created Liquid Brunette with Nicola Clarke at John Frieda. It’s a mixture of glazing, hydrating and a double gloss topcoat. We worked on a technique to get the most incredible shine throughout the whole of the colour.

Fashion Photography

What colour trends are you pleased to see out of fashion?

I’m really over a safe balayage; when something becomes mass market and it is seen everywhere, I go against it.

Are there any colour trends you’d like to bring back?

When I started hairdressing in the 1980s, we did a lot of work with colour placement and blocking which I am seeing more of now. It’s coming back stronger and more playful like the 80s.

Street Art

What are the challenges facing colourists right now?

The industry has become its own worst enemy by creating colour that grows out really well. The challenge is to make clients come back into the salon more regularly, so we need to make a service that is fresh and enticing every six weeks.

What has been your most memorable colour consultation?

Colouring Little Mix's hair. When I coloured Perrie Edwards’ hair lilac and Jade Thirlwall’s hair green, thousands copied them, and I recognised the impact it had. When you realise you are responsible for millions following a look you have created, it makes you look at colour in a deeper way.

Plants

What colour creation makes you most proud?

I created Cobain Chic which was the first dip dye that was mentioned in Elle, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and Tatler. It was named after Kurt Cobain, and I created a mood board with images from books and magazines. It was a colour campaign that was just in my head but the coverage it got was huge.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

The variety. One day I will be colouring clients, the next day I will be designing a new colour concept with Nicola Clarke, then I will be creating a trend piece and working on new educational courses with Matrix.

Street Style

What advice would you give to a trainee colourist?

As much as I immersed myself in hair education, I studied general colour in areas outside of hair and I would thoroughly advise this. It’s a case of mastering technique and knowing it inside out. Technique is massively important, then your creative eye and what you expose yourself to.