Shock Menagerie

Matthew Tyldesley August 22, 2019

Last summer, I was asked by make up artist Rebecca Rhodes to create a wig that would adorn her model for a make up competition of which she was entering. I willingly agreed to create a black and yellow avant grade wig for her to use during her live competition.

She was thrilled with the piece I had created and I delivered it to her at the Galt House downtown louisville for the live competition, “Battle of the Brushes”. I had mentioned to her possibly do a collabo with lots of color and several models.

The next day I found out she had won second place at “Battle of the Brushes” with her amazing makeup on her model, Katya. I quickly messaged her to congratulate her on her win and again suggested we do a collection and she agreed.

At “Battle of the Brushes” with model, Katya and Make up artist, Rebecca

I had contacted my team at Absolute Studio, Genna Yussman Greene and one his last collections, Tony Welscher to be part of this exciting collaboration.

of course, a shoot takes planning so I needed a few weeks to fabricate the details and map out the plans. I do a lot of bookings but this time I left that job to Rebecca. With she booked Katie Leigh Tarr, Lucy Duane and Rebecca Bien and modeled herself as the fourth model.

For the hair I wanted bold contrast, Primary colors and black. I would again use the black and yellow wig from the competition as one of the pieces. I got to really play and experiment; my materials for this included Kanekalon hair, yarn, rubber covered wiring and wig mesh. I loved layering the textures and used cut wig mesh that I woven hair extensions through. The hair became quite pliable and would be easy to form on the models.

Another wig had me sewing wig mesh into a tubular shape of which I later stuff with red and blue kanekalon hair. Repeating the same technique with the crochet hook for the bulk of the surface.

Genna provided black tops and a really cool futuristic shoulder piece along with matching armor bands that we rotated on each of the models.

I decided for one of the pieces I would take a mesh wig cap and overstuff it with the orange and yellow kanekalon hair and secure the end. Afterwards I took a small crochet hook and pulled hair out at various lengths for the frothy surface texture. I made several that I could build around hair forms on top of a secured scalp braided wig wrap on one of the models.

Rebecca did amazing cohesive face and body make up on each of the models. The entire process took over eight hours at Absolute Studio. Tony photographed each model on a solid black drop and Genna retouched the images for release.

Our collection was beautifully released in a five page spread in Beau NU magazine January 2019 issue.

Credits

Models:

Lucy Duane (Heyman Talent Agency) @lucyduane

Katie Leigh Tarr (Heyman Talent Agency) @kt_tarr

Rebecca Bien

Rebecca Renne Rhodes

Make Up: Rebecca Renee Rhodes @porcelain_kween

Hair : Matthew Tyldesley @hairbymatt

Wardrobe/Retouch: Genna Yussman Greene @gennayussman

Photography: Tony Welscher for Absolute Studio

BTS making of “Shock Menagerie”

it takes village…readying the lovely Abbie for the camera

Monarchs of Venus

Matthew Tyldesley April 1, 2019

I am a busy body and always have been. As far as I can remember I can never sit still and to this day I like to sit up at night after working at the salon and create and practice on mannequins and custom wig pieces. I can get inspiration from anywhere and I had stumbled across some really pretty shades of teal in synthetic hair from my local hair shop.

I had started to create some braids using the hair and I loved how the ends turned out but had put that aside to create a similar piece for another collection. This sometimes happens as an artist. I knew I wanted to return to this collection but had worked on some other pieces for two other shoots. It had also been a while since i had worked with Isidro Valencia so I knew I wanted him to be in charge of the make up to go with each piece I decided to create.

This look for Abbie was done by using straight kanakalon hair which I meticulously braided. Afterwards the braids were formed into shape and sewn into a headdress.

It took me several weeks with work and travel as priority as I would work in my freetime, in the evenings and on the weekends. I took snapshots with my phone and sent to Isidro to inspire his make up creativity. We would feature this collection in my art studio I shared with Genna Yussman Greene (wardrobe stylist and photo retoucher) at Absolute Studio in Louisville, Ky and Tony Welsher would photograph the collection.

forming the hair to the headdress using Redken’s Control Addict 28 and heavy heat from hairdryer

The “Pink Lady” hairstyles is very whimsical, Dr. Seuss like feel with a braided veil to cover Dezaray’s face for a dramatic effect. Konakalon Hair was cut into small pieces and fused to a active mesh covered with plaster strips custom head piece. I used matching colored thread instead of elastics to create the braided net veil.

I wanted this collection to showcase braids and feature lots of texture. I created various braids and created form with unusual shapes and hair forms using plaster strips, light weight active mesh. Custom wigs and hair . I kept the shades various hues of “cool” tones and “pastels”.

Photo Sep 17, 2 06 20 PM.jpg — Dezaray on set

Everything turned out to have a “Space Goddess” feel. I used beads and various hair setting techniques in advanced to set and prep the hair pieces for the day of the shoot. I did have to give my hands a break as the preparation of this took several weeks and several hours of braiding.

I took Custom wigs and stacked them using hair forms to create this look on Tracy. I did a lot of prep work on the wigs such as the twisting and ric-racking technique for texture along with stringing the ends with beads.

This look on Dominique which I later referred to as “The Jaguar” started first from forming light weight wire into a headdress. I used plasters of Paris strips to cover the wire then after drying, painted in acrylic the base to match the shades of hair I was using. It was then covered with the braids and matching konakalon hair.

molding the headdress with plaster strips and wire

I found this color at my local hair shop and fell in love with the color effect. I had to braid quite a few of theses

Soft lighting was used to enhance the hair and make up but not to overpower. The same cool tones were used in opposing position with gels in diffused tones. Genna provided simple black bandeau tops as to create the perfect canvas to showcase the hair and make up.

The bast of this was done with active meche and paper mache

For make up isidro decided on two themes: two models were done in avant grade style of make up inspired by his favorite painter, Jackson Pollack. Then the other two models were done is sultry, glamorous make up.

This collection was published in Feroce Magazine in a five page spread. Thank you to Feroce for the feature.

Photo Apr 01, 9 48 50 PM.jpg — Feroce Magazine spread

Credits

Absolute Studio

Creative Director | Hair | Matthew Tyldesley @hairbymatt

Creative Director | Make Up | Isidro Valencia @valencia0612

Wardrobe Stylist | Photo Retouching | Genna Yussman Greene @gennayussman

Photography | Tony Welscher

Models |

Dominique Thompson | @so_joyful79

Abbie Purdie | @abbiepurdie

Dezaray Nicks | @dezaraynicks

Tracy Rowlett | @tracy.rowlett

my go to hairspray on set…Redken’s Control Addict 28

BTS making of “Monarchs of Venus” from Absolute Studio

RECLAIMED

Matthew Tyldesley February 26, 2019

Great ideas and concepts can stem from anywhere. Executing the vision ones see in their mind can easily be shared with a group of people who further bring into their own artistic creativity to further bring the vision to life. One of the models, Katya Estes I had booked for a hair collection at Absolute Studio INC. We have worked together several times and she is an amazing muse to channel any look. I asked her to send me the images of which I loved and sent to our team, Genna Yussman Greene and Tony Welscher.

the perfect lighting for the perfect lip application with Bethany

I contacted make up artist, Bethany Hood to do make up. This would be one of our last collection together since she was relocating to L.A. to work on film and sets out there. She gladly agreed to come to the studio and to work on Katya’s beautiful face.

What really brought this collection to life was the wardrobe. Genna literally went to Goodwill and purchased used sleeping bags, bed sheets, part of a childs car seat, belts and unconventional items. She literally pieced and draped the fabrics on Katya into three solid looks. This is really what made this collection pop with a Goodwill “Couture” vibe.

up close of the black, asymmetrical hairstyle

For the hairstyling I created to contrasting looks that swayed to the avant grade; asymmetrical, irregular and gaudy. I basically stacked 2/3 wigs for each look on Katya’s head. I first secured her hair to her scalp with braids to created a foundation to support the wigs. I used several round hair pads to create the shape along with Kanekalon braiding hair of which I covered even more of the hair pads and pinned them into the overall shape. Once completed I took black elastic cord and tied it with no rhyme around the entire form. Redken’s Control Addict 28 hairspray was a must on set!!

Genna is prepping Katya in “Goodwill” wardrobe

for Make up, Bethany created a very clean, dewy canvas on Katya. Soft defined brows, Shimmer/highlighter brushed crossed both cheeks and eyelids. Soft warm eyeshadow with a tint of orange and a blood orange lip to complete the look.

After shooting, Images were edited by Genna and prepared for publication. You never know how long it maybe for the publication gets excepted for print from any publication but we didn’t have to wait long. Elegant Magazine eagerly accepted the collection and it was published in a 7 page fashion spread in the Nov/Dec 2018 issue. We were ecstatic about the release and grateful to Elegant Magazine.

We spent about 8 hours prepping Katya for three looks on set. Tony photographed Katya on a light grey backdrop with overhead lighting to create “Shadows”.

Life always throws obstacle in your way…The past year our team worked very hard to produce new materials for 2019. It was so good to finally be able to reveal and release some of the work we worked so hard to create and grateful to all the people involved. It’s important in life to take down time, reinvent, rebalance, reflect and celebrate all wins.

Credits

Model | Katya Estes @

Make Up | Bethany Hood @thehouseofhood

Hair | Matthew Tyldesley @hairbymatt

Wardrobe | Retouch | Genna Yussman Greene @gennayussman

Photography | Tony Welscher

on set with Katya and Tony behind the lens

In memory of Tony Welscher. He would have been very proud of the work we put out and we will miss him.

BTS of Reclaimed

Final Image by Tony Welsher/Genna Yussman

Origami Girls

Matthew Tyldesley November 30, 2018

My friend and designer/stylist, Genna Yussman Greene is always full of ideas. She came into posession of a dressed that reminded her of paper dolls. She showed it to me and suggested I do paper pieces. My passions as both a hairstylist and artist ignited with the end result of three distinct paper wigs.

***Bangstyle exclusive collection

Genna directing model Briana on set with “Paula” the paper poodle

group photo!!! The team at Absolute Studio MGT with our “Paper” dolls

Below are the complete wigs. I spent several hours crafting them. I used cardboard to create the foundation and a glue gun to easily adhere the paper. I would cut several pieces in various sizes of the same shapes to create visual dimension. I would curl longer pieces around pencils to create curls. I chose to go with the color blue for all three.

my finished “paper'‘ blue hair collection

We photographed and prepped models at our newly rented larger space, “Absolute Studio MGT”. We originally booked only one model for this project, Briana Velazquez who who would be relocating to LA. On the day of the shoot model, Jasmine Graham stopped by the studio to say hello and we convinced her to get in front of the camera as we all had plenty of extra items on hand we quickly readied her for camera.

Photographer, Tony Welsher did a wonderful job capturing the models on camera. He and Genna chose the yellow backdrop and creating the appropriate lighting to give the shoot that cartoon-like feel.

I am so happy to be working with this team and we have some amazing work on the way. So grateful to Bangstyle who wanted to feature this collection.

behind the lens with Tony and model, Jasmine

I was also challenged with doing make up on set….My first love of course is hair but I started out in the salon doing a lot of prom and wedding make up. I always say, “learn the basics.” The hairpiece below that Briana is wearing was made of adhering several sheets of paper together and cutting thin sections parallel together and i snipped into the fringe to see her eyes once she was wearing it.

The below wig “Glamour Girl” on Jasmine was created with thin strips of paper I coiled around pencil and glued to cloud cut pieces of blue construction paper for a voluminous, campy-feel. Transporting the wigs was fun too….I had to carefully strap them into my car to avoid them getting smashed, torn or bent.