March 26, 2026 |
Six years ago, when the world began slowly grinding to a halt, Ali Pirzadeh was forging his own path and locking in. While others were distracted by banana bread and Animal Crossing – two of the best-forgotten trends birthed from our collective, enforced time in purgatory – the hairstylist spent his time in the company of a mannequin head instead. Think Tom Hanks’s football-shaped friend Wilson from Cast Away, but beauty. “We were all a bit scared and confused, so for me that was my way of meditating and disconnecting, then you start creating from a place of fearlessness,” he recalls of the tumultuous time. “Sitting at home with my mannequin head and playing around, pushing ideas and concepts that I wanted to do, was amazing and because I started sharing it on social media, suddenly the opportunities to work with different people became much bigger.”
It was a somewhat unexpected turning point for the hairstylist, whose burgeoning career up until that point already boasted collaborations with brands such as Gucci, Burberry and Ashish, as well as several international editions of Vogue – not to mention the hallowed pages of this very magazine. Yet, new opportunities awaited him. It wasn’t until Pirzadeh had the time and space to connect the dots, free from restrictions and expectations, that his perspective shifted. “That’s what the big difference became. I realised I could take away the fear and instead of wondering, ‘Can I do that?’, I just did it,” he continues. “Knowing you’re not creating from a place of fear or terror draws people in.”
Valentine wears BALENCIAGA
It’s a freedom that has existed in the hairstylist’s work from its genesis but has since metamorphosed into an undeniable artform. From fringes cut into mind-bending geometric shapes to snaking, sculptural braids that defy gravity, the hairstylist alchemises unconventional materials into wig wonders like future-ready cyborg hair from repurposed old MacBook parts or glittering pixie crops complete with coquettish kiss curls, created from thousands of sparkling crystals. “I truly see hair as an art and a tool of expression,” Pirzadeh says. “Everyone knows I love sculptural hair, but it can also translate into something supernatural and raw. I want to push the artistic side of it even more because of how the world is right now.”
Undeniable emotion permeates the hairstylist’s oeuvre, a sense of euphoria, romanticism and sometimes danger that – despite at times looking so unnatural you’d be forgiven for thinking it was AI-generated – feels deeply human. It’s a threat that ominously looms over the creative industry at large at the moment, posing a chilling conundrum: ‘Could AI replace my job?’. “I feel quite safe in my position,” he says, reassuringly. “If we actually look at what we do as an artform, this is my voice and my way of expression, so let’s claim it. No computer is going to take that away. I don’t want to live in a world without human-to-human interaction, what’s the point?”
Taka wears socks by ALAIA
From a whisper to a yelp, Pirzadeh’s creative voice belts at various outings throughout the year. We speak in the lead-up of what is colloquially known as the ‘long season’, a mammoth marathon of January to March. It’s a chic sandwich comprising menswear and womenswear, with a decadent haute couture filling. When he’s creating bespoke looks for a bevy of brands including Louis Vuitton, Harris Reed, Marine Serre, Robert Wun and GmbH, the preparation begins long before he’s anywhere near a head of hair. On his process with frequent collaborators, he says, “Before I start working with them, I try to find out what kind of DNA they have. What is it that their clothing represents? Who is the character? I look at the fabrics they work with because my aesthetic is a lot about textures. For me, that’s the interesting thing about being able to be a chameleon and transforming into different brands.”
Hugo wears trousers by RICK OWENS
Unsurprisingly, it’s the parts that make up Pirzadeh himself that also pull people into his world. Talking about what makes him good at what he does, he says, “I’m a kind person that comes with ideas and concepts. I’m very collaborative and I never say, ‘No, you can’t do that.’ If somebody says they want the hair to go three metres up in the air, I will figure out how to do it and I think that mentality counts for quite a lot.” Not to mention the hairstylist’s ever-growing encyclopaedia of textures and colours, often mundane or banal, but never drawing from existing fashion or beauty references, all stored in his ever- growing, gargantuan photo album. “My assistants keep trying to push me into being a Pinterest girl, but I’m not,” he says with a laugh. Out of curiosity, I ask how many images. “Oh my God,” he says, before pausing dramatically. “It’s over 115,000. I don’t erase things, but weirdly enough I do have a good memory where I can remember I took pictures in Barcelona and then scroll to find them.”
Taka wears trousers by VICTORIA BECKHAM
While the hairstylist’s artistic or historical references from the Middle East or North Africa might be refracted through a lens that isn’t instantly recognisable to those not in the know, his introspective approach is one that exemplifies the current generation of creatives. “I wanted to present hair as a form of empowerment, an armour that protects while holding strength,” he says of his inspiration behind the editorial, which he titled Selābat, a Persian word of Arabic origin that means awe or strength. “Coming from Iran, where women are forbidden to show their hair, my intention was not just to reveal it, but to reclaim it as an expression of resilience.”
Sure, sociopolitical pressures and hair make for strange bedfellows, but beauty doesn’t exist in a vacuum and the global schisms are impossible to ignore. “If you look at where we are in society right now, the colour pop and push towards glam are something that lights up and gives some joy, and those kinds of shifts go hand in hand with what society is presenting right now,” he says. “We’ve gone through the ‘clean girl’ aesthetic and come to a place where we’re allowed to express and play. It’s a fun time right now. We just need to embrace it and really go for it.”
The start of the year coinciding with the AW26 shows naturally has Pirzadeh feeling reflective. “Being from Iran, my dad wanted me to work in economics or become a doctor, so they pushed me to study economics, but I was really bad at it,” he says. “I only started hairdressing school because my sister was a hairdresser, and it just gave me this feeling… I felt so safe in that school.” Perhaps in a different life, or after another government-mandated period of isolation, a different chapter to Pirzadeh’s creativity might blossom. “I don’t know if I would still be in the creative field,” he reflects. “I wanted to be a therapist when I was growing up, but maybe I’d have a gorgeous flower shop and café.”
Jum wears HERMES
After locking in, levelling up, however you want to describe it, Pirzadeh is still pushing, but not putting the pedal to the metal. “The challenging thing is not about the work itself; I enjoy the work and what I do, but obviously I always want to do bigger clients and bigger jobs to push my identity out there more and more,” he says. “Because I love what I do so much I tend to want to push it and push it and push it, but I don’t listen to myself and my body. So, for me, growth comes from listening to my body and finding balance in there somehow. I know it’s a difficult thing, but finding more balance is what I’d love to do.”
Taken from 10 Magazine Issue 76 – CREATIVITY, CHANGE, FREEDOM – out NOW. Order your copy here.
SELÄBAT
Photographer TAREK MAWAD
Creative Director and Hair ALI PIRZADEH
Fashion Editor GARTH ALLDAY SPENCER
Make-up CHIAO LI HSU
Text DOMINIC CADOGAN
Models TAKA MAGDELINE at PRM Agency, HUGO FULTON at Supa Model Management, VALENTINE VALERO at The Squad Management and JUM KUOCHNIN at Models 1
Manicurist SABRINA GAYLE at Arch The Agency
Movement director BENJAMIN JONSSON
Photographer’s assistants ADAM ROBERTS and OLIVER WEBB
Digital operator MATTHEW ALAND
Fashion assistants GEORGIA EDWARDS and FI MUNDAY
Hair assistants KRIS SZALAY and ANA VERONICA TORRES
Make-up assistants LIZZIE CHECKLEY and MARISOL STEWARD
Set design assistants CLAUDIA ROSE and SUZANNE ELVEN
Casting NICO CARMANDAYE at Concorde Casting
Production ZAC APOSTOLOU and SONYA MAZURYK
Jum wears RICK OWENS
