Behind the Scenes of February's Cover Shoot

By Kelley Donahue Feb 1, 2018 4:00pm

Dramatic is exactly what hairstylist Angelo Seminara envisioned when he chose Sossusvlei as the site for his shoot with human-hair extensions brand Great Lengths. Situated in Namibia’s Namib-Naukluft National Park, the destination is characterized by some of the largest and most colorful dunes in the world.

“The lighting casts a different glow on them depending on the time of day, so Andrew O’Toole, our photographer, and I had little doubt the images would be pretty impressive,” says Seminara, a four-time recipient of the British Hairdresser of the Year Award (2007, 2010, 2012 and 2016).

To ensure the styles were in sync, Seminara applied Great Lengths extensions that he had colored before finishing the designs with products from the Davines Your Hair Assistant range. High-fashion, feminine and flowy clothes tied the concept together. “Because the desert wind plays games from sunrise to sunset, constantly reshaping the dunes, I wanted a similar effect from the clothing to achieve wondrous free-flowing silhouettes,” says Seminara.

The one and only challenge Seminara hadn’t contemplated encountering was the weather. “When you shoot in an open-air location, conditions can take over, so you need to be prepared and patient,” he says. “Fortunately, my wonderful team made the impossible possible.”