Issue link: https://www.ahpindiestylist.com/i/1421270
N ot a m e m b e r ? J o i n at a s so c iate d h a i rp rofe s sio n a ls .c o m 45 WHAT IS YOUR PROCESS WHEN SHOOTING A COLLECTION? When a date is set for a shoot, I start to think of the objectives. If it's a show I'm producing, then it's the why. Is it the indulgence of just me doing a beautiful collection because I want to go into my own creative process to research and discover something new? Or is it something the industry really needs to understand, like: How do you demystify layering? How do you really get layers where you want them to be? If that's the case, let's draw a whole collection on layers—short, medium, long layers, round layers, square layers. So then that will direct the story and the shoot. Or is the story on face shape? If so, let's do a storyline all on different face shapes—like how to take a square and make it oval, or round and make it an oval. That's now a storyline. It always has to have a purpose because I'm not in the place where I can just go through the expense of time and money to shoot without an objective. Many hairdressers think about how they take a picture today and it goes immediately onto Instagram. And even though that production cost is very, very low, it's their time and their post, so they do need a return on that investment—a new client, expanding their repertoire, etc. I think that we, as artists, can get very seduced into, "Oh, I'm going to a photoshoot!" But I think it has to have legs. How will you get a return on that investment? For me, the creative process is really about the why. So I narrow it down. For example, what is the objective of this collection? If I'm shooting a ponytail collection, how many different ponytails can I do? And how can I do one that's gorgeous and different, and yet not so different that someone wouldn't wear it. That is a very creative process—new and different, but wearable. That is so hard to do versus "My inspiration is a tree, so I'm going to stick that tree on your head, and there you go." WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT CAREER AMBITION? For 17 years, my online business was Hair Designer TV, which still exists, but we are now building a whole new platform—VivienneMackinder.com—where we've created structured, sequential courses. When your learning is structured, you create building blocks for higher results and better outcomes, so my focus now is taking content and elevating the hairdresser's experience—and seeing better results for them. I think one of the saddest things that has happened to our industry is that education has been cheapened by it being free. People don't value it, and they just expect you to pour out your heart and soul—and all of your knowledge—for free. Free is never the same as when you're purchasing the real-deal education that has been mindfully designed. Our