Avant-garde: how to find (or free) your creative spirit as a hairdresser

Is hairdressing an art form? Whether you’re turning out precision cuts on the salon floor or styling backstage for an international fashion brand, award-winning educator and sustainability expert Anne Veck believes that what we are creating as an industry is art – and who are we to argue?
Anne is one of the most respected Avant-garde hairstylists in our industry today.  Here Anne shares her insight on Avant-garde, art and how to maximise creativity and how core this art form hairdressing is to daily hairdressing life.

Perhaps the most creatively artistic of all hairdressing genres is the world of Avant-garde – and while Avant-garde might seem like a world away from commercial hair work at first glance, the skills needed require the same level of mastery and understanding; you must be able to walk before you can run. Perfect the classics – including setting, braiding and finger waving – and you will have a repertoire of techniques to build on, whichever route your career may take.   All of these are reasons why Anne is a huge advocate of Avant-garde and feels it is a misunderstood and often overlooked area of hairdressing, seen as an artistic indulgence, rather than a hardcore every day skillset.

Additionally, Anne proposes that Avant-garde is all about problem solving, which makes it a great brain training exercise. As hairdressers, we need to solve problems daily – so it follows that the more we can practice this skill through creative outlets, the better problem solvers we will become.
To look at it another way, says Anne, “My view is if you have a commercial style and you multiply it by ten, the result is an editorial look. Multiply this by one hundred and you get an Avant-garde style. It’s taking the basics of hairdressing and using our creative artistry to amplify the results that we can achieve. By using simple ideas to create stunning classic looks, we can then expand on them and create gravity defying Avant-garde styles.

“Creating images offers a medium through which to express ideas, vision, thought and emotions that we can struggle to say with words. I aspire for my work for be inspiring, engaging and thought-provoking, just as art is – I’ve used it to express my views on sustainability, pollution, the fashion industry with different collections such as Toxic Fashion, overall it gives a creative voice to my work.”

Anne puts Avant Garde work right at the heart of hairdressing but also understands that this level of free-flowing creativity can be scary for some and she reassures with her thinking that “if creativity isn’t something that always comes instinctively to you, don’t worry. I truly believe that creativity can be learnt. It takes practice though – like a muscle, the more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes. Or like your brain, the more you put it to use, the smarter you become! There are ways to trigger creativity which will differ for each of us – so take time to find out what works for you. Here are some of my suggestions:

1.Don’t rush the process. It is difficult to be creative with time restraints – an hour is never enough. I need to have time to waste time!
2. Make space for your art. I need a dedicated creative space where I can leave my project half-finished and pick up where I left off. If you’ve got to tidy away your projects at the end of each day, you can lose that motivation to come back to it whenever the mood takes you.
3. Keep an inspiration ‘box’. For me, it’s a folder of images on my phone and my computer.
4. Surround yourself with other creative people that push your artistic boundaries. I do a lot of collaborative shoots where I work on someone else’s brief. I love doing that, as the starting point is not mine so I end up doing something I wouldn’t ordinarily. Bringing creative minds together adds value and creates magic.
5. Challenge yourself. Take risks. Step out of your comfort zone. In a creative process, there are no mistakes but you do need to believe in yourself and have confidence in your work.”
Go and create, tap into your fearless freedom with Avant Garde thinking and Anne believes you’ll be a better hairdresser (and even a more wholesome human) as a result!

Anne teaches Avant-garde through her educational business and you can find out more about this at Anne Veck Education. or email anne@anneveckhair.com