John Allan on why the hair does all the talking
This is A HOT MINUTE WITH, a quick-fire interview series championing all the rising talent catapulting into fashion, art and music’s fickle stratosphere. From pinch-me moments to bad dates and even worse chat-up lines, think of it as an overindulgent conversation – like the ones you have in sticky club toilets at 4.A.M. Except these guests don’t regret the overshare…
Courtesy of @johnallanhair
NAME JOHN ALLAN
OCCUPATION Hair Stylist
LOCATION London, England
STAR SIGN Virgo
BIGGEST PET PEEVE Late people.
Your hair says a lot. It can be a point of activism, a practical decision (bedhead being the conscious choice for almost a year now) or even a natural layer of warmth during the colder months, because why spend the $$$ on a scarf when you can wrap your hair round your neck 3 times?
Changing your hair can be an identity forming experience, and for hair artist and stylist John Allan, the strands do all the talking. With each head a canvas for experimentation, pushing the boundaries to create more defiant ways as to how we perceive the hair on our very heads, Allan boasts a repertoire of clients from MOWALOLA to BEABADOOBEE. Each fantastical creation a tour de force, Allan’s provocatively playful designs force us to consider our relationship with hair as one of adventure.
Navigating his introductions to the salon and the collaborative nature of the fashion industry, Allan shares his tales of the tresses and his brutalist ideology. Blessed be the hair stylists, we miss you more than ever right now (she said squinting through a fringe).
Victoria Monari: What made you want to become a hairstylist / artist?
John Allan: It was never something I thought about doing, but at one point I was pretty wild and I’d just been thrown out of uni and I needed to make some money. I applied for loads of jobs and the only place to reply to me was a salon. I thought I’d leave after a month but here we are.
VM: Tell us about the main inspirations behind your hair styling?
JA: I’m a realist and a bit of a brutalist. I find inspiration in dark or cold places. It ranges, I can be inspired by anything. Normally when I do a job it will be inspired by whatever I’m obsessed in that moment and normally a mix of like 4 or 5 references. Like right now I feel like I’m obsessed with order and restriction when I do hair but then after a month I lose it and want everything to be chaotic which is actually just my personality. I hate routine.
VM: Best hair moment you’ve ever created?
JA: It’s always yet to come.
VM: Which app do you spend too much time on?
JA: VESTIAIRE.
VM: Lockdown 3.0 in 3 words…
JA: It’s hard for me to put it into three words. Like it’s been amazing for me during some points and then also really hard. By nature I like being by myself so that part wasn’t hard but I also live completely in my own head which can get pretty dark pretty quick but there’s always something that pulls me out. I love working, I’d work every day if I could and early on when the work disappeared I found that really hard.
VM: What are you hopeful for post lockdown?
JA: I’m hopeful for everything, I’m hopeful to see my family, I’m hopeful to work more and I’m hopeful for the clubs to open again and to be able to travel and see my friends all over the world.
VM: Worst fashion trend you participated in?
JA: I was a huge MySpace scene kid: raccoon extensions, loads of facial piercings, the lot. I don’t really regret it though, I admire my drive to really put the work in every day. I’m pretty lazy now when it comes to getting ready but the work has taken over, I was at school then which I hated to that’s what I focused on.
VM: Best/worst advice you’ve ever been given?
JA: You can’t have fun all the time. Like why can’t I?
VM: Last song you listened to?
JA: Mansion House by DEADSY.
VM: How does fashion influence your work with hair?
JA: The drive of people in the industry pushes me, the collaborative aspect opens my eyes all the time. The people I work with are amazing and inspiring.
VM: What was the last shower thought you had?
JA: Whether I wanted to be buried or cremated. I decided I don’t really care, just throw me over a cliff, I’ll be dead.
VM: Biggest pinch me a moment?
JA: It’s yet to come.
VM: What’s the longest you’ve worn the same outfit for during lockdown?
JA: Never really, I wake up at like 6am every day so the days are pretty long. When I’m not working, all I’ve got to do is get ready. The woman in Sainsbury’s has probably seen me in like three outfits a day.