Haute couture from chopped locks
Pablo Kümin has won awards for his hair designs and now is turning heads with his dresses made from hair. (RTS/swissinfo.ch)
Kümin scooped the Swiss hairdresser of the year award 2013 in the avant-garde category. The hairstyles are unusual, but the hair-raising dresses are attracting even more publicity. Having made a name for himself, Kümin spends all his time travelling between international fashion shows, shoots and salons in Europe and the United States.
He’s not the only stylist to have come up with the frocks from locks idea. The British are well versed in the art. Hairdresser Jodie Breeds created the dress worn by Miss England finalist Holly Lyons in the environmentally-friendly dress round of the 2012 Miss England contest.
Thelma Madine teamed up with a Liverpool hair salon to create a unique wedding dress entirely out of human hair in 2011, and designers Mariana Fantich and Dominic Young have created a suit called the Apex Predator made with human hair, glass eyeballs and fake teeth.
US singer Lady Gaga may have started the trend by performing in New York in 2010 in a gown made entirely of shorn-off locks.
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