Guido palau: hairdressing icon

Born in Dorset to a Spanish father and an English mother, Guido Palau began his hairdressing career with an apprenticeship at Vidal Sassoon on South Molton Street. Once qualified, Guido worked at numerous salons in London, but it wasn't until a colleague invited him to join her on a magazine shoot that he realised session styling was the career path he wanted to follow. He left the salon, found an agent, and spent the next few years struggling along doing various tests with young photographers and honing his skills working on women's magazines and catalogues. London during the 1980s and 1990s was an exciting place to be, with street fashion and sub-cultures thriving and groundbreaking magazines like The Face and i-D launching the careers of talented young creatives including photographer David Sims, who Guido befriended on a shoot. The duo soon started working together, focusing on a different aesthetic to the prevailing glossy look of the era - grunge. This pared-back, natural, youthful style became a trademark of David and Guido's work and caught the eye of designer Calvin Klein who introduced the relative unknowns to work on the now famous Kate Moss campaign and his pivotal 1994 catwalk show in New York. Guido soon became a favourite backstage at fashion week as well as securing work in glossy magazines and shooting videos - including George Michael's epic Freedom 90 video featuring Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford. In 2005, Guido's ability to predict - and dictate - trends saw him signed up by Redken as its creative consultant, and he was worked hand-in-hand with the brand ever since. Guido has had a strong presence as a session stylist for more than 20 years, bringing radically different styles to runways, campaigns and magazines. His impressive CV includes work for publications including American, Italian and French Vogue as well as designers including Prada, Versace, Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton, Alexander McQueen and many more. In 2009, Guido was the only hairdresser named in the British Fashion Council's Power List of the most influential people in fashion, alongside such luminaries as the late Alexander McQueen, Dame Vivienne Westwood and Sir Phillip Green. He works on more than 30 shows per season worldwide and is widely recognised as one of the most successful and busiest session stylists in the world.