The birth of a new hair language: La Favorite

Spring is the season for change. Ever thought of printing your favorite picture or pattern on your hair? Sounds impossible right? But you will be surprised to know that it is possible to print colorful patterns on your hair.

After years of exploring hair as a canvas, Spanish hairdresser Alexis Ferrer has developed a new, emerged technique for vibrant, colorful hair printing. Alexis Ferrer has been experimenting with creative hair dyeing since 2012. After accumulating years of experience, he combined technology and handicraft to form this wonderful technique. Hence,he has surprised and excited half the world with this collection, La Favorite, an innovative technique of photographic printing on hair. This proposal has garnered the applause and recognition of the sector both nationally and internationally.

With new technology, techniques, and knowledge of this craft the Wella Professionals Global Team Members made this "Favorite Collection" possible. The "la favorite" series of works uses modern technology to reproduce the patterns of birds and flowers that were loved by French court nobles in the 18th century. Ferrer  mixed  'Photo' , 'Inks' and created this digitally.

He said that he was "Influenced by Modernism, Cubism, Surrealism and the way couturiers created flowers and animals on fabrics, dresses, walls, and tapestries in past eras."⁣ With this new invention, he proved that fashion is not only about clothing, but it’s also about creating, showing our inner beauty and Hairdressing is the perfect combination to connect with fashion.

How it all began?

Alexis Ferrer started experimenting with hair printing in 2012 when he was asked to develop a collection for the ‘Wella Trend Vision Awards’, ‘which aimed to innovate with a technique never used in hairdressing and, photographic printing on hair seemed the ideal way to represent a story graphically and impressively,’ the hairdresser mentions. 

For the ‘080 Barcelona fashion week’ in 2017, Ferrer worked with a designer, Txell Miras, creating extensions with black and white photographic prints. A collection inspired by fishermen and the giant containers that we find in ports and their reuse as homes. For this reason, the hairdresser decided to print fishermen's faces on the extensions.

After revisiting and perfecting his previously applied techniques, as well as working on color intensity and definition improvement, Ferrer updated his process from using photographic inks to digitally-generated ones. Mixing technology with his knowledge of crafts has allowed Ferrer to recreate intricate patterns on hair, opening a world of infinite possibilities for the future. ‘We took inspiration from the palace gardens in 18th-century France,’ he explains, at that time flowers and animals inspired couturiers to create the best fabrics for the french bourgeoisie’.

How this idea became trending?

The La Favorite collection was complete at the beginning of July and after taking the photo session in August, it was sent to the Figaro Club organization. On September 1, the first post was published on Instagram with images of this work and on October 25, he participated in the finals of the Fígaro Awards, winning two awards, Spanish Hairdresser of the Year and Best Video Production. Weeks later, the collection was also a finalist in the British Hairdressing Awards and the UK's top hairdressing awards.

How he turned his Imagination into reality

As a child, Ferrer spent most of his time in his mother’s hair salon. Born in Barcelona, amidst one of the most avant-garde fashion scenes, pushing the limits of his imagination was something he learned early on. Dalí’s surrealism, Gaudi’s modernism, and the molecular gastronomy of Ferran Adrià were all influences that inspired him personally and in his work. For the last 20 years, Alexis Ferrer has worked on over 1200 catwalks all over the world. With his team of 54 employees, he currently runs four different hair salons.