Celebrity Hair Artist John Novotny (@johnnovotny) expertly melded hair and fashion to create a custom-colored hair jacket and skirt set for Chappell Roan's "The Subway" music video.
Partnering with fashion designer Todd Thomas, Novotny created a high-glam look composed of 35 bundles of curly human hair, three lace closures and two cut-up wigs. Each strand started as honey blonde, then was color-matched to Chappell’s signature red and finished with hair care products for effortless shine and movement. The outfit is sported during the Subway scenes of the music video.
This unique look blurs the lines between hairstyling and couture.
Outside of Novotny and Thomas' collaboration, hair played a central role throughout the rest of the music video. Roan's iconic red curls take on an exaggerated length as they pile up on the floor around her and hang off of a balcony, eventually filling with trash, getting stuck in a cab door and becoming a nest for rats. Roan later sports a staple breakup haircut: a shoulder-length blunt bob with bangs.
Lacy Redway (@lacyredway) styled Roan's hair for the music video, while Charlie Le Mindu (@charlielemindu) created the hair costumes and set sported throughout the rest of the video.
Le Mindu shares that he prioritized using real human hair when creating the designs for the music video.
“The great thing about human hair is that you can use real products that make it look fuller and thicker. You can really change the shape of a costume and really have a completely different piece of clothing by giving it movement or different products. And it just looked like really thick hair. But there were a lot of hair extensions, and the ones we were using were about 45 inches (114cm)," he told Gay Star News.
