When modeling his creations Sam adds his own witty captions and captures our hearts and imaginations with undoubtable style. Click his ‘Cock-a-doodle do’ selfie to open the gallery and unravel the mystery of the #backstagebeauty that is Sam McKnight…
When did you first hit upon the idea of modeling your own hairstyles?
I’ve been posing in wigs on shoots since the Victorians invented photography. I have quite few Polaroids from the 80’s, in a time before they were called selfies!
What excites and inspires you when thinking of a new look?
It’s always exciting before the next season’s shows, when I meet the designers to discuss ideas and inspirations. Karl Lagerfeld always sends me beautiful sketches as a starting point and we just take it from there.
What hairstyle has been the most challenging?
When I started Instagramming my wig pics, I gave the pics the name of a song, although that is not law. I think the first one was ‘Hello. Is It Me You’re Looking For?’ I try to keep up the humour as it’s all a bit of fun really. I mean, what else can you do when you’ve done the hair on a shoot, waiting for makeup, and there’s 4 bags of wigs to play with? Resistance is futile! Well it is for me anyway!
Do you have names for your many different looks?
I don’t have names for the looks, but some of the comments are hysterical. Each wig brings it’s own challenge, for instance when we had to cut, dye and prep 55 wigs for the last Fendi show, the night before the show it was decided they should all be black. We used a lot of bleach to clean the hotel suite the next day!
As an avid gardener have you found there’s an artistic crossover into your hair work?
My garden is a constant inspiration, which I have come to realise shows in many ways in my work. The pastel bobs I designed for the Chanel Versailles show last year were colours taken from faded blooms in my borders. And the huge frizz at L’Wren Scott last summer could have been a field of dandelion clocks. I’ve also just been working on a small range of hair accessories inspired by my garden with the jewellery designer extraordinaire Vicki Sarge. Watch this space.
And the future, do you have any plans when it comes to your ‘selfies’, if they were a book I’d buy one!
No plans for a selfies book yet, but you never know!
Credits
Text Princess Julia
Photography Sam McKnight