Earlier this fall,  Toronto’s Sassoon Salon hosted a Night of Style and offered a show which featured their new fall collections Utopia and Poetica. From long waves to blunt chopped locks, the Yorkville hair salon presented a variety of styles that ranged from classic to bold and edgy. Real Style sat down with Sassoon Toronto creative directors Lorraine McAndrew and Wesley Hanlon following the show, and learned more about their newest creations. From their favourite trends to their essential tricks for caring for dry locks, this dynamic styling duo spilled on everything hair for Autumn 2016. 

Real Style: Tell us about the inspiration behind the hairstyles in the new collections. 

Wesley: Working at Sassoon, we’re quite lucky because we always come out with new collections, which is exciting. This year, we have a collaboration between the salon collection and the academy collection. We used to have them separately, but now we’ve put them together. The collections are called “Poetica” and “Utopia,” and the inspiration is about bringing back a lot of texture. There’s perming involved, multi layers, multi graduation, and just provoking texture.

Lorraine: In this collection, the hair is undercut, which creates a lot more movement and texture as well. The clients are becoming more interested in this, whereas before it used to be more on the creative side in the schools. But people are becoming more open. With my hair for example, it looks like a bob, but the undercut allows me to style it different ways, I can sweep it one way or the other, and it makes it more versatile.

Real Style: Do you have a favourite hair trend for fall?

Lorraine: In the Utopia collection, I love the messy bob [pictured below]. It has a lot more movement, with intercut layers but a little bit softer. The bob is really popular at Sassoon, it’s a classic cut. So it’s always nice to have a variation or a different way to approach it as a stylist. It makes it a bit more fun.

Wesley: I wouldn’t personally pin one trend to fall, because I don’t think a trend goes that quickly. For example, braids have been in for two years now. With what Lorraine said, I think we are going to continue to like that style throughout next year, so it’s not just for the fall. It’s been happening before and it will continue on, as people start catching on.

Lorraine: Hair is like fashion. It reinvents itself and comes back but in a different way. It’s about different approaches to how we cut and section hair. At Sassoon, we’re all about precision cutting, so for us it’s more about the cut and not so much in the style. That’s our philosophy.

Real Style: Is there a hair trend that you wish would go away?

Lorraine: The man bun. [Laughs]. I’ve kind of seen enough of it.

Wesley:  I think, personally, anything that’s too much, I’m ready to see it go. Even the beard, I’m ready to see that go. I think they go together, the man bun and the beard, don’t they?

Real Style: Do you two have any dream celebrity clients whose hair you admire or whose hair you would love to work on?

Lorraine: I like Michelle Williams, I feel she is really cute and she is always changing her look. I know if I were working for her, she would let me have my own ideas, which is fun for a stylist. Also, Ryan Gosling. 

Wesley: I quite fancy the way Jessica Alba does her hair when she goes out. She always looks really good and I like the way her hair is styled. She always has a nice, up-to-date hair style.

Real Style: With winter coming up, what are some of the best ways to combat dry hair?

Lorraine: I love the Kérastase express treatment which we have in the salon. You put it on in the sink and then rinse it off. I’m growing my hair right now, and it’s a bit dry, and if I use that, it’s great.

Wesley: A lot of the time, people don’t leave their conditioner on long enough. They just put it in and rinse it off. Take the time to actually leave it in, or do a treatment like Lorraine said, and leave it in longer.

Real Style: If you could only use one hair tool for the rest of your hair styling days, what would that tool be?

Lorraine: Scissors.

Wesley: My brain.

Headshot Photos: Paul Stewart

Utopia Photo: Sassoon Salon