This stylist and men’s groomer – and newly crowned Most Wanted Session winner – has blossomed from a hungry salon junior into an internationally recognised (and busy!) session stylist, whose work has featured in the likes of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Elle. She started assisting backstage at Fashion Week 10 years ago and now is killing it with her boundary-pushing work with DJ and activist Bimini. She has a passion for individualism and carefully nurtures relationships with muses and artists to collectively bring their visions to life.

A Most Wanted Session Stylist Legend, Syd has spent the past two decades masterfully working his way up the ranks of fashion’s most exciting talents, creating looks inspired by London’s youth driven culture. A global ambassador for BaBylissPRO, and the stylist-of-choice on set for numerous global Fashion Week shows and fashion bible editorials, Syd is adored for crafting bold, dynamic looks with an instinctive understanding of texture and character. All delivered with a cheeky grin and a can-do attitude. Has anyone ever seen Syd without a smile? 

“I went for a futuristic, past and present version of the disco era – lots of volume, but bringing in this sort of gritty, broken texture as well,” says Lauren. “Kind of like a Barbie that’s been shaved and put in the bin – but a cute version! This is a beautiful duality, bringing the past with you into your future and looking pretty.”  

Key Process: Using the BaBylissPRO Drying Wand with the pik attachment to blow dry the hair out smoother, Lauren used hairspray and the wand again on cool to set the ponytail. Some strategic padding was added to build up the shape, checking regularly in the mirror and with a 360 degree view to ensure it felt right with the model’s head shape. Once happy with the padding and the shape, she added in some prepped hair extensions, cutting some as she styled. That organic placement of hair around the crown and face? Done by using the airflow from the Drying Wand and hairspray to set it as it blew out in different directions. It wasn’t uniform at all, and not too neat anywhere. Then everything was set with the Drying Wand and some salt spray. 

“The inspiration came from my initial thought process – when someone says ‘futuristic’, I think ‘90s Thierry Mugler,” says Lauren. Delving through the archives, she fused her model’s head’s silhouette with an elongated alien-inspired shape.

Using the BaBylissPRO Drying Wand, Lauren was able to slick the hair back and then set it with hairspray to nail that silhouette. On top of that, she added braids – “very simplistic, which I think is futuristic” – and the result was beautiful. “You wouldn’t walk around like that – that’s what makes it futuristic,” smiles Lauren.

We’re looking forward, so Syd made sure this hair goes backwards! It’s aerodynamic, nodding to the shapes you see in science fiction, from spaceships to architecture. Yet one specific reference screams out (#SorryNotSorry) above the others – the acid-blooded HR Giger-designed creature from the iconic movie, ‘Alien’. When you do finally see her, it’s terrifying – mouth open, teeth bared, a laser-focused predator. This 1979 film gave us a vision of 2122; doesn’t feel that far forward now…

A long, curved headpiece made of chicken wire was covered with the mesh from a cut up hair donut. Most of the model’s hair was blow dried back into a ponytail, using the BaBylissPRO Drying Wand – this would ultimately sit hidden within the wire headpiece. A front section of hair from ear to ear was left out and loaded with thickening spray to later blast dry smooth. Syd then grabbed the BaBylissPRO Stilista to smooth over some top sections and to ensure a graphic and shiny finish, spot on for the concept. That front section was pinned over the wire piece. A little cheat meant some hair extensions were added underneath to wrap over the piece and camouflage that wire.

Here, Syd once again meshes something vintage with a forward-facing vibe – in this case, the classic ‘20s Marcel Wave

“To make that technique futuristic now, a modern way, is by using a gel to set it so it becomes shiny, lacquered and hard,” says Syd. That hard edge was key: “I wanted the ridges of the Marcel Wave feel like a big surf wave,” he explains. “More graphic in shape and a bit uglier in the way that a Marcel Wave would be done traditionally.”

But that technique bleeds into something else entirely as you move down the hair. “I wanted to change that shape into a lighter, fluffy shape, but also with the change of texture; it’s wet on the body so that again, it stays futuristic and modern-looking,” says Syd. That fluff is courtesy of the classic rik-rak technique, with hair wrapped around a pin in a circle of eight movement and set using heat. It was then taken out of the pins and brushed out with fingers to get the width and the texture. The key to a spot-on rik-rak? “Practice, practice, practice,” laughs Syd.

A key driver behind this XXL look? “Curls are fun,” Syd laughs. “They feel modern, always. Massive hair makes everybody feel great!”

To know Syd is to know that he’s always going to push to get something special… and on this shoot, that meant an unplanned third look from nowhere! But genesis of this extra special treat was a new curl innovation coming in the new year…

This nail this futuristic, fluid and modern finish, Syd needed the silhouette to “be like a bubble, because everything’s about shape”. Starting with the BaBylissPRO Curling Tong in 16mm, Syd stacked the curls, going from tight at the bottom to bigger at the top (using the BaBylissPRO Curling Tong in 25mm) to ensure volume. “I also used two wigs, because it needed loads of hair and loads of curl,” he grins. “I wanted to fill the frame. It felt very cool, very right.”

Paul purposely cast an androgynous model to bring his concepts to life. “I love the idea of quite a tough hairstyle, based around over-groomed guys with that 50s vibe, but the make-up is then very precise and feminine,” he says. But why does a proto-Teddy Boy look future-facing? “Giving her that freedom to look tough and to own that masculine look, that’s very much the future. That toughness has a real beauty to it. If a hairstyle looks great on the person, it gives confidence… and confidence is sexy.”

Starting with the foundation shape, Paul drew from that ‘50s classic combo of slicked quiff and curved DA at the back. This is all about that lift at the front, and the combed shape in the back – all delivered with the BaBylissPRO Drying Wand and its pik attachment. That wet look finish? Again, that’s Paul artfully playing with gender roles. “In the 50s, it would be such a guy wearing this – the slick is almost the grease of his engine that’s in his hair, right?” he laughs.

“Flip it and reverse it” – the iconic words of Missy Elliott nail the approach Paul took to his second look, flipping the concept and delivering a very feminine hairstyle with make-up that’s plain and simple (cue the bleached brows) to play again with that idea of futurism and androgyny.

A pre-coloured wig was curled in sections using the BaBylissPRO 38mm Curling Tong on a medium heat. Once on the model, it was back combed through the top section, again to “make it seem like a slightly unbelievable shape, which feels a little bit more futuristic” says Paul.