Behind the Scenes- Label Yourself

So, this is the top secret hair piece in the works that I was busy creating last weekend for Crys Darling's clothing line, Label Yourself. We had spent months designing wigs and hair pieces for her Sweets collection, and it's finally all come together! Crys gathered an amazing team of individuals to capture her sweet treat fantasy, and these are some of the behind the scenes images from that shoot! I was so excited to see everything come into place, and to see Trulie finally try on her hair piece. It. Was. Magical. 

(Pictured from left to right: Quiana Tenise, Crys Darling, and Trulie Scrumptious) 

We are thrilled to put together the other 4 pieces for her collection, which will be debuted to the public on April 19th at Drauma Columbus! I will have the distinct honor of designing her pieces (with the incredible help of Kaylen!) AND wearing one of the pieces down the runway. I'm thrilled! Let me know what you think of Trulie's cupcake hairpiece! 

You can see all of the images from behind the scenes that day here. All images courtesy of Art Cat. 

Synthetic Rebellion 2014

(Image by Laura Dark)

Okay, okay. So I've been pretty silent these days here on the blog. I've been so ungodly busy for the last few months trying to get what feels like a billion projects up and running at once, and I've put the blog on the back burner. Again. But NO MORE! Seriously. 

Instead of trying to recap everything that's been going on, I figured that I'd just jump into talking about a major project that I'm working on right this very second: Synthetic Rebellion's next venture into this years Alternative Fashion Week as designers AND hair stylists. That's right! We're submitting our own collection of costume wear in addition to elaborate and extreme hair art structures. It's like we've absolutely gone insane or something.... Which I often argue that we have.

Regardless! It's official and we're excited about it. If you're interested in what we did last year, just click on the links above. They have all of the awesome work that we put into the finale runway show as hair artists, and now we're contributing even more. It's honestly a complete dream come true to be able to tackle such a large goal in such a short amount of time. Alternative Fashion Week is coming up in just a few short months (April 19th-26th to be exact) here in Columbus, and we've got TWO collections that we're debuting. That's a HUGE leap from our First Runway Show Ever last April. It's amazing what a year can bring.

Speaking of, that beautiful girl on the right in the picture above? That's my hair partner in crime, Kaylen. Without her I would never have had the confidence to do anything beyond studio work. She is an amazing addition to Synthetic Rebellion and I'm very lucky to have her by my side in all of this. 

Anyway, to give you some confidence that I am in fact going to be writing more often, check out the Alternative Fashion Blog that I am a contributing writer for (lead in fact!), which will have a TON of updates on AFW 2014, the designers, fashions, and events that surround it. You won't be disappointed! 

Oh! And check out some of our recent work on our Facebook Page and tell us what you think! 

Synthetic Rebellion: A Hair Show.

I am finally, finally able to share images from my first hair show that took place in April, and I couldn't be more excited. This entire process, from conception to debut has been a wild adventure, and I was lucky enough to choose just the right people to share it with. My models were not only close friends, but some of the most creative and talented people in Columbus, and having them cheer me on was just... Otherworldly. These are women I look up to, find inspiration from, and adore, and their support was just the most amazing thing.

Anyway, this post is coming after having my first meeting with Aaron James of Ruby Hill, a Columbus designer who has booked me to do hairpieces for his finale show for Alternative Fashion Mob in June. Aaron is another artist that I admire, and having this chance to work side by side with him has been one of the coolest things I've been able to be a part of. Our meeting last night left me feeling electrified with ideas and daydreams of creations that we get to display for Columbus. I am so excited.

I digress! Here are the images of each of my lovely ladies and their hair pieces. In the flurry of getting ready we missed many chances for more images, but I have that moment tucked away internally to think back on, and honestly, that's just enough for me.

(Image courtesy of Haute Stuff Studio)

(Image courtesy of Haute Stuff Studio)

(Courtesy of Haute Stuff Studio)

(Image courtesy of Haute Stuff Studio)

(Image Courtesy of Haute Stuff Studio)

(Image courtesy of Haute Stuff Studio)

(Image courtesy of Haute Stuff Studio)

Some additional images....

I couldn't thank my girls enough, or the hoards of people who came out to cheer everyone on. This show was worth the long nights, tears, blood, and frustrations. I can't wait to do it again!

(Models used were: Jackie Steinert, resident model extraordinaire for Laura Dark. Ashley Arend of Alt Fashion Mob and Bloggess at Ending up Here, Anita Rhynes, metaperformer for Shadowbox Live. Model and cat rescue goddess, Jamie L. Burlesque wonders, Holly Hahn and Berry LeRoux, and theater actresses Sarah Gehring and Lindsey Fisher.)

Synthetic Rebellion.

Have you ever held an interest in something that you eventually gave up on, be it because of difficulty or because you just too caught up in something else? That was me and my hair art company, Synthetic Rebellion, which hit it's prime two years ago and then quickly faded into the background of things I did on a regular basis. My specialty was creating 2 to 3 foot hair sculptures of inanimate objects or abstract designs that were made entirely of synthetic hair. I'd made wigs that looked like birds, giant Geisha swans, birthday cakes (that lit up) , growing botanical gardens, and pirate ships too, and it garnered a lot of attention. Channel 4 News did a segment on it, and magazines were publishing images of my pieces left and right at a speed I could hardly keep up with.

Eventually though, I just gave up on all of it. I had lost all of my motivation and creative spirit to do as much as I'd been doing before. Every now and then I'd get to do an elaborate styling on a model that would come into the studio, but in general, my wig making faded into the background of life. Instead of Synthetic Rebellion getting publications for hair art, it was getting put into publications for general pinup styling, or high concept design work, which was equally as rewarding.

Lately though, I've missed it. I've missed the challenges and the lessons learned from figuring out everything for yourself, as I am completely and utterly self-taught. I started yearning for the chance to get back into sculpting, pushing myself to create more gravity defying designs that just didn't seem possible to ever accomplish.

As luck would have it, I was recently approached to do a show as a designer (both with wardrobe and in hair artistry), and I lept at the chance to get back into wig making. Right now, I have 8 pieces that I'll be creating, ranging from wigs that move, to wigs with doors and floor plans. It'll be an outrageous adventure, and I couldn't be more excited about it. I'm even more excited to share with you the images of my progress, and images from the show. I hope you like it! The show will take place on April 1st here in Columbus, so that's just a little over a month to get everything done! Wish me luck

 =]

All images in this post are property of Laura Dark Photography. All wigs were made by Synthetic Rebellion.