Dear Shaded Viewers,
25-year-old Nasir Mazhar from East London, trained as a hairstylist at Vidal Sassoon. He has been working as a theatrical hatter with Mark Wheeler for the past 2 years, first meeting him when he was working on Kylie’s first Showgirl tour. Since then, he has worked on productions with Rambert Dance Company, The Royal Opera House, Globe Theatre, National Theatre and Barbican amongst others.
“I am really obsessed with those Nasir Mazhar headpieces” SHOWstudio.com
A specially commissioned padded headpiece for Madonna appeared on the cover of Dazed & Confused earlier this year and he has been profiled in POP Magazine.
He has previously assisted Samantha Hillerby with hairstyling on shoots and advertising work, one season working at Milan Fashion Week. During this period, he got to work with names such as Nick Knight, Katie Grand and Katy England.
“One of a new wave of ARTISAN MAKERS and shaker-uppers” i-D MAGAZINE
He is generally inspired by thousands of years of hat-creating references and history; this is where his imagination really takes over and he dives into an unknown world.
“NASIR MAZHAR, the 25-year-old London hatter who has been causing a stir in the fashion scene over the past few seasons, has had a great year.” VOGUE.COM
He is so excited by the history of hats; he feels that headwear goes back forever, even from man’s earliest pursuits, from ploughing fields, playing sports and hunting!
He loves how over the years, early styles and shapes have been revolutionised! Often they have changed what was happening in society with your headwear stating your social standing with hats for differing classes, and different hats for different occasions.
He feels that every modern hat you see comes from the past. You could say the baseball cap comes from a jockey cap worn by a Russian princess in the 1760s. The earliest cap was a black leather six-section crown with a foot long peak, black leather lined with white kid. The basic shape not that different to the six-section short peaked cap we love to wear now.
From working in the hairdressing industry training with Vidal Sassoon, he became frustrated with limitations of hair, wanting to create more defined shapes impossible with hair.
So he started to use materials to assist the hair soon becoming constructions and shapes irrespective of the hair, and very quickly becoming headwear!
His pieces are portable architectural interventions which strike at the chore of our embodied sense of self. What they achieve is to alter the dynamic circulation of identity, by means of a form of sculptural surgery which understands the weight that corporeal intensity bears upon our everyday life. His pieces are somehow surreal, as super-real; their design includes and makes apparent the underlying dimension of reality, which breaks away from our rational cultural horizon.
Styling: Nicola Formichetti
Assisted by: Sam and Anna
Hair: Tomo Jidai @ Jedroot using Shu Uemura – Art of Hair
Assisted by: Zoe Argiros, Yosike and Maykel
Make-up: Maki Ryoke @ CLM and the M.A.C PRO Team
Make up provided by M.A.C Cosmetics
Nails by: Jenny Longworth @ CLM
Underwear and Shoes: Agent Provocateur
A special appearance by OTHON & Tomasini
Composer/Pianist: OTHON
Actor/Singer: Ernesto Tomasini
Special thanks to:
Nicola Formichetti, Richard Mortimer, Ponystep.com.
Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen, Krispy Kreme
Later,
Diane
PRESS/SALES ENQUIRIES
MANDI LENNARD PUBLICITY LTD
t +44 (0)20 7729 2770
f +44 (0)20 7729 2771
nasirmazhar@ml-pr.com
