September 11, 2025 |
Eugene Souleiman, 61, is such a relaxed guy he reminds me of a push puppet. You know, those children’s toys where you push a button in the base and the whole thing – usually an animal like a giraffe – flops into a languid, fluid state. That’s Souleiman.
It doesn’t matter where you find him, and I’ve found him many times backstage or on set in the thick of all the drama wearing his signature pork pie hat, he’s always the same: calm under fire, easy-going, with time and a welcoming smile for everyone.
In fact, in all the years the only thing that has changed is that hat. “They kept getting stolen backstage,” he says. “And Paul Harnden is not exactly the cheapest of brands. So now it’s a baseball cap in the summer and a beanie in the winter.”
from left: Ema and Gemma
Going with the flow was very much the approach to this shoot. “I didn’t have a clue what I was going to do,” he tells me. “I spoke to Val [Garland] beforehand and she asked, ‘What’s the brief?’ I said, ‘There is no brief.’ I know when I get into a studio with Val things happen because we’re closely connected and work well together creatively.” For these images, he says, “It’s about looking at the style of photography and thinking what you might do, and you can change it on the day. I’m into pushing to see where it goes. We have to come at it in a very curious way.” Not for him are hairstyles with hard profiles or clear guidelines. “That’s not my thing. I’m Mediterranean, soulful, concerned with the story, person, character, being intrigued by them and wanting to know more. Because people have conflicting views and feelings and I like to bring that out in what I do. I want to be able to look at a picture for years and enjoy it rather than look at it as something trend-based.”
Did he have any specific references for these images, which look like a blend of unhinged Marie Antoinette meets The Handmaid’s Tale meets Sally Bowles on acid. “This story came from so many places,” he says, before reeling off a myriad of inspiration touchpoints: “Fellini films, art history, surrealism, dadaism, Westwood. It comes from everywhere and is just smashed together, so you pick up on influences, but it isn’t obvious. I like the idea of mixing things like technology with something that’s historical and playing with those dynamics.
from left: Gemma and Ema
I wanted to create a modern abstract aesthetic.” Small wonder that someone said to him recently that what he does “is like looking at an old Westwood Savage top,” he says, with a confused look. “I said, ‘What?’, and they said it’s because I put the most unlikely things together in the most haphazard way, but they work and are poetic.”
After 30 years in the business, not only has Souleiman’s passion for work not dimmed, but he’s “having more fun because I started out in the ’90s, right? Everyone went crazy [if something was] in the wrong place. It was so delicate and minimal. It was hard to manoeuvre creatively through that prison cell. I started my career doing Jil Sander and Calvin – he didn’t want any hair, no one wanted anything. But people like Val, Pat [McGrath], myself, we always managed to find something in those constrictions. That was the challenge and it kept me there. But the most exciting period? No. What’s weird about it is you still see those pictures on mood boards that you get sent. You go, ‘Oh no, not again!’ It’s bizarre.”
Gemma
A career in hair began for this East End-born punk and Westwood-wearer with Irish-Turkish heritage when an adviser at a job centre suggested he give it a go; he went on to spend the best part of 10 years training under Trevor Sorbie, before becoming one of the industry’s stalwarts and taking up a lead position in fashion’s big Cs: catwalk, covers and campaigns. But there’s more. “The amazing thing about my job is that I get to do hair in different mediums. In June I did a film directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal called The Bride. It’s a remake of Bride of Frankenstein and I worked with these intelligent, creative, sensitive, articulate people. It was so inspiring. That week of filming was like having a free pass at the Old Vic and watching real artists perform properly with a script. [It was about] looking at the character, dissecting, researching and proposing ideas. We threw everything at it. I sandpapered wigs, took fibres out of my tumble dryer and decayed hair with Oxy Active, the fabric stain remover, until it became like chewing gum. It was amazing. We did so much beautiful research on mummies that were found in a desert. It was a wonderful experience.” As you’d expect, the end look is not an homage to the classic 1935 film with Elsa Lanchester’s electric-shock hairstyle, but something new. “I did Mary Shelley brought back from the grave, a mummified version of a Victorian hairstyle that looks like a Chapman brothers painting when they redid all those old masters. It’s all decayed, like a doll left in the attic for 150 years.” You can see it for yourself on the big screen next March.
That tumble dryer was also put to good use for this shoot for those Marie Antoinette-ish wigs that look as though they’ve been crossed with collapsing piles of discarded wedding macarons from Miss Havisham’s house clearance. “That was a pure accident,” says Souleiman. “It was me spilling an espresso on a wool-filled cushion and I washed and then tumble-dried it, but it wasn’t dry, so I kept shoving it back in the dryer. After about eight goes, I opened up the pillow and it was full of all those balls. It was a mistake, but straight away I thought, they need to go on someone’s head. The lightbulb went off. I work in an unusual way, I’m never specific or intentional about what I want to do. The ideas come to me through situations and not the trend this season. I don’t do that. Never have, never will. My vision comes from feeling.”
Ema
It isn’t all high-touch moments, though. He jokes that Jessie Buckley (“Oh God, she’s brilliant”), who plays the title character in The Bride, told him, “I can’t imagine you ever doing a blow-dry, Eugene.” So when was the last time he did do one? “Yesterday,” he deadpans. How come? “It was for my daughter. She was going to her school ball. We took her shopping at Westwood and I’ve never seen someone quite that excited in my life. They were amazing in the store, they took so much care of her. And she looked incredible.” Does it ever feel bizarre, I wonder, that you’ve gone from the guy at the job centre wearing Westwood to the guy doing the hair for her shows and so many other big-name designers? “Yes, totally. And it’s funny, you’d be surprised at how things come around full circle, though in a different context, so you always have an emotional connection to them. My first connection with Westwood was going to Seditionaries on King’s Road and working at my uncle’s fish and chip shop so I could buy a cheesecloth Destroy straitjacket or a mohair jumper. I associate my clubbing years with World’s End. And then you end up doing her show so you get to meet your queen and you love her because she’s absolutely fucking bonkers and totally authentic. Then you find your kids going through the wardrobe wearing all this stuff and nicking it off you.”
Ema
These days, he’s also enjoying sharing his wealth of experience with students as he holds digital courses on wig-making and creativity, and puts up some Reels on the topic on his Instagram. Ever low-key, he says, “I never see myself as a master. I see myself constantly learning and enjoying that process. It’s not about any kind of hierarchy, I’m just excited about collaborating.” It’s also important to stay open. “Even as elders we have to respect youth and understand it.” He leaves me with an important piece of advice. “The fast pace of life, especially in the digital world, is problematic because people want to get ‘there’ very quickly. They haven’t realised that it isn’t about getting there, it’s about the journey.” Yes, we should all be taking a leaf out of Eugene’s very inspiring book and learning to just… relax.
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EUGENE SOULEIMAN: IN CHARACTER
Photographer MARCUS SCHAEFER
Creative Director and Hair EUGENE SOULEIMAN
Fashion Editor SOPHIA NEOPHITOU
Make-up VAL GARLAND
Text EDWINA INGS-CHAMBERS
Models GEMMA SEYMOUR at Milk Model Management and EMA MACHACOVA at Kult Models
Photographer’s assistant CHRISTINA CLEMM
Fashion assistant GEORGIA EDWARDS
Hair assistants CARLO AVENA, KAROLIINA SAUNDERS, CLARE HURFORD and CHARLES STANLEY
Make-up assistants PAULA MAXWELL and CRAIG HAMILTON at Streeters
Casting SIX WOLVES
Production ZAC APOSTOLOU
Corsets throughout by AGENT PROVOCATEUR
Ema
