Zara and Zara Home have been brands I have adored and dreamed about working with. So, I had to pinch myself when they got in touch with me!
The Zara Home shoot was shot back in November 2019 with Amanda Brooks, the former fashion director of Barneys New York, who now lives in the Cotswolds. Amanda is a regular client of mine who I have especially loved getting to know over the years.
The shoot was to capture an inside look into the fashion insider’s retreat at Christmas time. So I was lucky enough to be requested by Amanda and the Zara team to support them on the shoot with hair styling to create two looks.
The brief was to look natural and fresh to fit with the ‘at home’ feel Zara Home was looking for. Amanda regularly wears her hair down with a natural blow dried wave. I achieved this by creating a slight bend using a medium-sized brush to blow dry her hair out in small sections making sure to pull the ends smooth. This technique meant I gave Amanda an undone, natural wave. I then sectioned her hair for a half up, half down with a lovely bow. And she loved the result!
It does help that Amanda has a natural wave in her hair, which holds waves exceptionally well. Still, the prep is always vital for any style. I used my favourite Bumble and Bumble smooth cream to tame any flyaway strands. A small amount was fine for the relaxed look we were creating as I didn’t want the final look to look overly product heavy or too styled.
I also styled Amanda’s gorgeous daughter Coco who featured in the shoot with a natural-looking straight blow dry - which really isn’t as easy to achieve as it sounds!
Any blow-dry smooths the hair and will always make it look like it’s been styled, so the trick was not to have every individual hair smooth and in place but still have a look that was shot ready.
For the second look, which was for an evening scene (getting ready for when the guests arrive for the Christmas party), I used a Zara jewelled hair clip in Amanda’s hair to hold one side back to enhance her waves a little.
For Coco, I used a 32mm tong and created a beautiful loose deep wave with straight ends and finished off with a beautiful pearl headband.
The day-long shoot was filmed at Amanda’s beautiful farmhouse, and it was a day I won’t forget. I had so much fun working with Amanda, Coco, and the Zara brand and would love to do more work like this in the future.
I hope you enjoy some of the fantastic shots that were captured. Here is the link to the video.