All the details, courtesy of her stylist Vernon Francois.
Hair stylist Vernon François is at the top of his game, and Lupita Nyong'o's red carpet looks this awards season are proof. Just last week, he created her much-hyped afrocloud puff for the Critics' Choice Awards. Now, the duo are back in action for the SAG Awards, where Nyong'o is nominated for Best Actress for her performance in Us. It's a big night for Nyong'o, and thankfully, François filled us in on exactly how he designed yet another show-stopping style.
"I was definitely channeling the 1940s today," François tells Allure. "You don't often get to see women that look like Lupita or have similar hair textures — like the curly-kinky-coily hair textures — do something so glam and old Hollywood on the red carpet."
For references, François turned to the "hundreds of thousands of women of color that used to wear these hair styles," he explained. "Women used to wear hair like this to go do the laundry. We used old, traditional images."
Working with Nyong'o's strapless gown in mind, the two decided on an Old Hollywood style that channeled classic glamour mixed with the new Hollywood innovation that François brings to his work. You might think that a look this pristine and gorgeous was planned months in advance down to each curl and coil, but François explains that he often prepares as much as he can, then improvises in the moment.
"I'm quite an emotional hair stylist," he says. "It really is just prepping and then feeling the moment, feeling the hair, looking at the balance, and looking at how [Nyong'o] is responding." It's a dynamic that requires plenty of trust and willingness to experiment, which is probably why Nyong'o always ends up on the red carpet looking so damn good. Do they give out SAG Awards for that?
The look came together thanks to products by Matrix and Dyson. François prepped the hair with Matrix Total Results Miracle Creator Multi-Tasking Treatment before blow-drying with the Dyson Supersonic. Once hair was styled, he set it with Matrix's "super moldable" hair spray before Nyong'o hit the red carpet.
With only a few weeks left in awards season, we can't wait to see what these two come up with next.
Source: allure.com
