Aiming for Fashion Week
Brandy Alexander's audition adventures
Power Rangers. My Little Ponies. Stuffed animals.
Toys that once kept children occupied for hours at a time, now bring back fond memories for adults. But for BRANDY ALEXANDER, playing with Barbie dolls wasn’t just a childhood pastime. They inspired her career..
“I never cut my Barbie’s hair, I never colored them with crayons or markers. I always wanted them styled,” Alexander recalls.
Once her dolls had perfectly polished hair, Alexander moved on to playing with family and friends’ locks. By the time Alexander discovered New York Fashion Week while flipping through magazines in fifth grade, she was hooked. She stayed up late and watched Fashion Week reruns on the Style Network and was in awe of the models strutting down the runways.
Growing up, Alexander moved across the country. A vacation with a friend brought her to Wilmington. She fell in love with the Port City and decided to make it her home. After cosmetology school, Alexander landed a job at GROOVE JET SALON + SPA.
When she’s styling a client’s hair, Alexander often finds herself in awe after she produces the final product.
“Once I spray in that last piece of hair spray, after I’ve blown it out, I’ve styled it, I’ve finished the look, that’s kind of my little signature, like, ‘Okay, you’re ready for the world now,’” describes Alexander.
After working at Groove Jet for several years, Alexander and her mom purchased the salon, located in heart of downtown Wilmington.
Her blossoming career keeps her on the go all the time. Alexander styles hair five days a week at the salon. On her days off, she works with photographers and styles models’ hair for photo shoots, including for WILMA. In her spare time, Alexander travels with a hair tool company educating new stylists. Alexander says her hectic schedule does not feel like work because she loves what she’s doing.
Each day Alexander works is a step closer to achieving her dream of styling hair for high-end designers during New York Fashion Week. Earlier this year, she got a taste of what it would be like to work behind the runways and prep models hair.
Alexander was handpicked to audition for Bumble and bumble’s backstage Fashion Week team. Since her salon exclusively carries Bb hair and styling products, Alexander trained at Bb University in New York and learned from their stylists.
“Taking classes there is like the Harvard of master’s degrees in hair,” Alexander says.
Alexander was one of sixty stylists selected to try out for the Fashion Week team from over 500 Bb salons around the country. The twenty-eight-year-old says it was an honor to even be considered for that opportunity.
“They’re doing the hair for these high-end designers. It’s not a small show. It’s a very major show. And so the people they choose to work backstage with them, they must be at the very, very top of their game,” Alexander says.
At the New York tryouts, Alexander was given three hours to create three different hairstyles: a ponytail into chignon, a double French twist, and a curling iron test.
“They’re really big into giving us feedback and constructive criticism, so that way we can learn from it,” she says.
While Alexander didn’t make team, she feels the experience was priceless. She’s eager to continue pursuing her dream and hopes to try out again, spending the next year honing her skills and preparing.
“I think if you get handed something right away, it doesn’t necessarily mean as much to you,” she says. “But if you have a struggle that goes along with it, then it means so much more when you do actually get it.”
To view more of photographer Jason Hudson's work, go to www.kellerphoto.net.
