Tomo Jidai Showcases His Session Work

Few hairstylists have made the sort of lasting impact on the fashion industry as Tomo Jidai has. Thanks to his tenacity and technical ability, the New York-based artist has had a formidable career working with legendary collaborators such as Craig McDean, Heji Shin, and Colin Dodgson. Now Jidai is spotlighting his creativity with the release of Session Work, an archival photography book developed with creative director Fabien Baron, whom Jidai proclaims a "living legend" and who spent two years collaborating on its design. "In London, where I started my career, the fashion photoshoot is referred to as 'session work,'" says Jidai of the title. "The phrase struck me as a revelation in the parallel it drew to music—certainly, a fashion shoot is like a recording session. Each begins with a concept that sets the tone: avant garde, edgy, or effortless, depending on the subject, and to actualize the idea it takes a whole band of contributors, from the photographer to the stylist, makeup artist, manicurist, set designer, hairstylist, and so on. Every part is necessary to create a harmonious vision."

As Jidai humbly explains, Session Work is an opportunity to pay forward the knowledge and experience that he has acquired throughout his career to the next generation. While hair artistry is at the forefront of each image, Jidai honors the entire team involved in the images he has chosen to represent his work. "I didn't choose just head shots like a regular hair beauty book—I wanted to show how hair styling adjusts into a fashion shoot," he says. "Sometimes you need to make a strong character so I need to do crazy hair, and sometimes I need one touch as effortless hair to make a believable character. In most of the images I picked, the hair really contributed something to the story."

Session Work is out now. Read this story and many more in print by ordering our fifth issue here.

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