Revolution of Reinvention by Antoinette Beenders

Throughout history, haute couture and fashion trends have always reflected contemporary social and economic issues, and hair fashion trends are no different, as in Antoinette Beenders’ latest creation, dubbed the Revolution of Reinvention.

As often happens, true artists are able to anticipate trends, as Aveda Senior Vice President – Professional Global Artistry Antoinette Beenders, has done with her Revolution of Reinvention Collection, which she thought best appropriate to launch on Earth Day 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the world as nothing else has since perhaps World War II, resulting in sudden drops in pollution and wild animals exploring now deserted city streets. Closed stores and stay-at-home orders have given consumers time to reflect on the difference between “essential and non-essential” and furloughed consumers and the unemployed are finding themselves having to tighten their budgets. Experts are telling us that we will have to make drastic adaptations in our lifestyle, from jobs to sport to school to shopping. Now this new collection focuses on Reducing, Recycling, and Reusing in the fashion industry. 

Beenders often finds her inspiration in random photos she files in her phone and one of these in particular got her thinking about the layering of different times and places using vintage elements and nods to iconic trends of past decades. Hence the concepts of waste not, reduce, reuse, and recycle.

“The hair board was inspired by the 1960’s teddy girl, a bit of punk, recreating textures we might have seen but in different shapes, a revival of the Roaring ‘20s in 2020, so the Louise Brooks bob, and every hairpiece I’ve ever used, because I like to reuse them,” she says, “Then for the shoot, I felt like we needed bold colors and models posing in movements that reflected dynamics over time… the head and the body had to create a holistic fashion vibe.”

Indeed, all of the hair featured in this collection is either recycled or re-used, from techniques to actual hairpieces. Yet, the looks are bold and contemporary. “I have always believed that hair is the fabric of the body and the idea was to take classic techniques and market finds, and to blend them with pieces from the newest catwalk collections in order to show that something old can look just as fresh and relevant as something new, and how both can be combined seamlessly to create a modern, contemporary and entirely relevant new hybrid look,” Antoinette explains.

Inspired by the Aveda Mission, the collection was shot late last year and fully embraces today’s “Youthquake,” where young people are rallying to take over the political mantle of the times. Beenders points out, “The need to curb what many now view as completely unnecessary and unacceptable levels of consumption and in turn to limit the wanton waste that has come to define how life has been lived by most of us, at least until recently, is now being heralded as the most important political topic of the day.” Indeed, market trends have also recorded consumers’ desire to be seen as both responsible and conscious when it comes to matters of consumption and waste, founded on their increased awareness of and demand for sustainability in manufacturing processes from the origins of ingredients to packaging that can be easily recycled.

The concept of “Revolution to Reinvent” as also echoed by American Vogue’s editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, who is passionate about addressing the throwaway couture that has come to define fashion the world over. The message they are both looking to communicate is one of ‘buy less, buy better and buy to last’. And what better day to present this collection than Earth Day 2020!

• Credits
  CREATIVE DIRECTION AND HAIRCUT/STYLING
  Antoinette Beenders
  Assisted by Michela Pezza
  HAIR COLOR
  Bruno Elorrioroz
  MAKEUP
  Marco Antonio 
  PHOTOGRAPHER
  Damian Foxe
  FASHION STYLIST
  Elad Bitton