Stratum, a simple word with two varying meanings. One, a layer or a series of layers of rock in the ground. Two, a level or class to which people are assigned according to their social status, education or income. Clayde Baumann's most recent collection, Stratum, focuses on the second definition, bridging social status with hair styles that might give off a different connotation.
"The dream is to see women in high ranking positions rocking denim hair or grungy pastels and strip away all taboos surrounding hair color," Baumann says.
With photography inspiration drawn from Terry Richardson, this collection brings innovation and excitement to classic, wearable consumer shapes by using bold and creative color techniques. "I aimed to stimulate and encourage the use of temporary pigment and direct dyes on women from all social demographics," Baumann adds.
Dawa
"The mood and aspiration behind Dawa’s look was taken from 90’s cult film fashion icons like Uma Thurman in Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction or Natalie Portman in the foreign cult classic LEON. Every campaign should have a femme fatale that exposes raw feminine strength and few shapes do this better than the many versions of the bob. In my vision, I wanted to create a technique that was visibly appealing and technically proficient but executed with bold surreal color. The challenge was to create an interesting and graphic, seamless merges of bright blue on the surface color. The palette and technique were inspired by minimalist, Mondrian and De Stijl paintings like 'Composition of Red, Yellow and Blue' and I wanted to achieve a marbled or melted checkerboard effect through the surface color."
Scarlett
"When I am not doing hair, I enjoy dabbling in art forms like drawing and sketching. Often when I have sketched out a color technique, I will spend time working out ways to create the look onto a real head of hair. Scarlett’s technique is inspired by this. I wanted to create a color technique that looked as if it were sketched or drawn onto the hair. Coloring long hair has always been a passion for me and I think that too often we settle for a balayage or an ombre. This technique provides a new way of looking at coloring long hair. To make this look more accessible, I chose a popular consumer look. The square-layer is a simple and wonderful shape that allows you to place pocketed color and marbled effects through the hair with great sporadic results."
Earl
"One of the challenges was to create aspirational images that men would look at and say, That’s how I want my hair to look. The mood or aspiration behind this image was that of a music icon/rock star. My interpretation of what makes hair color appealing on a man is that it needed to be masculine, and in a way it needed to look undone and rugged. I’ve achieved this by using pre-lightener to create a coarse texture in the hair and added grungy pastel color by mixing cool and warm tones in between each other to give it a more self-done vibe. The deeper root gives the impression that the color is old and worn and is complimented by the beatnik fringe, which also open up the face and exposes Earl’s great bone structure and masculine features of his face."
Billy
"The task on Billy’s hair was simple. To show that hair color can compliment a haircut, improve and even maximize the full potential of a man’s total look. Billy had a high recession and an early onset of male pattern hair loss so the focus was to take away the bulk of the hair to streamline and accentuate his face shape and good bone structure. The shape was brought shorter and forward with a hacked, self-cut feel. The internal shape was layered with blunt cutting techniques to create texture but retain hair density. The darker shades were places in the hair to create the illusion of thickness and density but also to create interesting contrast and compliment and expose the texture created in the cut."
Hair: Clayde Baumann for D&J Ambrose (@DJAMRBOSEHAIR)
Photography: Matt Parri Thomas
Makeup: Sophie Cox
Stylist: Jackie Ambrose