Sharon Blain’s fierce-meets-feminine collection, Stitched Up, mixes textures like braids and waves without the pins.
Looking outside the normal methods of creating dressed hair, award-winning educator and artist Sharon Blain wanted to expand her creativity by eliminating pins in hairstyles in Stitched Up. Instead, she used clear nylon thread to give the styles flexibility and security. “My work had been limited by having to pin the hair with bobby pins to secure hair in place,” Blain says. Using pins to hold finger waves disturbs wave movements, Blain says, but stitching the hair with a thread holds locks in place without disrupting the style. By sewing hair, Blain could pull out pieces and expand it into shapes once considered difficult to achieve. The result: sophisticated styles that exude glamour. —Corie Russell
By Corie Russell; Photography: Ian Golding; Makeup: Susan Markovic; Fashion styling: Lydia-Jane Saunders
ABOVE:For this vintage style, Sharon Blain created height by rolling the sides of the hair up to the center and stitched strands in place. She brought the ends down to the nape, twisted, pulled them out and stitched for hold.
ABOVE: For this sleek look, Blain blow-dried hair back, then created Celtic side braids and sewed hair in place with clear thread. She took the middle section, teased and smoothed into the nape, and stitched the hair for hold. To finish, she smoothed the ends downward into a low ponytail.
ABOVE: Blain crafted knot braids around the head and stitched the hair secure. She pulled out the ends of the hair in single twists, sewed and then pulled them for a cylindrical shape.
ABOVE: For this glam look, Blain rolled hair into a low chignon. She dry-set pincurls and brushed into finger waves, then used nylon thread for hold.