Bonaveri Magazine

became a quasi-abstract, iconic figure at last
freed from those secondary traits so prominent
in the aesthetics of persons, balancing to a
greater extent its relationship with the garment.
Within this continual back and forth of styles
and experimentation lies the metier of those
professionals who dedicate themselves to
adding a touch of humanity to mannequins.
Mannequins offer
fashion designers
and visual
merchandisers
new opportunities
The eyes, ever the inspiration for poets and
philosophers alike, are both symbol and mirror
of the human soul, the focal point of attention,
that are capable of attracting to themselves
the most important forms of decoration.
Make up gives depth to the gaze, individuality
to the person just like a haircut recounts the
evolution of eras in an immediate and almost
spontaneous way.
In reality as in the window, mannequins have
undertaken to bring to centre stage the sense
of these imprints to differentiate themselves
and offer fashion designers and visual
merchandisers new opportunities.
Sam Beadle is a young wig maker who like
many of his generation are bringing new
creative ideas to the mannequin world. His
work is original and yet follows on from a long
line of tradition. Visual design and historical
presentation have elements of high art that
have long been practiced by silent participants
like Sam; people that set the scene, behind the
scenes. We talk to Sam as he unpacks a box of
pastel coloured wigs that have just arrived from
London.
He is styling them on the mannequins in Bonaveri’s
showroom: the photoshoot with Emma Davidge is
about to begin. He spends minutes looking and
checking to see how each of them fits and appears,
obsessed with any detail.
25 years old, Sam is a cool guy wearing Balenciaga
trainers and an oversized sweater. He runs his own
mannequin wigs in Northern London. “I design and
make them by myself.” A young talent still making his
name known, whom Emma Davidge tracked down and
invited to collaborate making wigs ad hoc for Bonaveri.
“Each wig – Sam says - is made bespoke for each
head, so it will only fit that particular mannequin.
For example, for a pose like this [and he shows the
mannequin], where the head is turned - sometimes
the neck distorts the shape of the head - so even if
the head is the right size, sometimes you need to have
another wig. So usually I tend to make wigs work for
two poses.”
It’s his first time at Bonaveri headquarters: he is here
for a couple of days to set up his wigs, and style and
prepare the new collections for their EuroShop debut.
I have never met someone working in such a very
specific field! How cool you are.
I absolutely love making wigs, is my passion you know.
Hair in general has always been my thing. I was a
hairdresser before this. I always wanted to start my
own business. The mannequin industry, you know,
is quite small and the wig part of the industry is very
niche, there are not a lot of people that do it.
How did you get into it?
I was a hairdresser for people. Basically, it was very
weird how it all happened. I was about 16 years
old and, straight out the school, I was training as a
hairdresser with a lady whose husband was the
manager of a mannequin renovation factory - they
didn’t make new mannequins but renovated old ones
upon the requests from shops. Selfridges, Topshop,
Harvey Nichols, Harrods and Liberty would come to
them if they wanted to change the colour or the pose,
or get a wig or make up.
So you fell in love with mannequins at that time?
I didn’t actually! When I was working as a hairdresser,
they offered me a job as a training wig maker
but I didn’t take it. I wanted to carry on
hairdressing.
In London right?
It wasn’t in London, actually it was in Essex, just
outside the city. But then I left that hairdressing
salon and I moved up to one in London, where
I stayed for three years or something like that.
Then I got bored….
Hairdressing can be very the same, you are
doing the same thing over and over again, you
know. It was not feeding me creatively and so I
decided I wanted to leave it. So I was about to
go to Berlin. I didn’t know what I was going to do
there. But just before I moved, I got a call from
the husband of the hairdresser I used to work
for before. The manager of that mannequin
renovation company…
And so you ended up in the mannequin field.
He asked me if I would come in, as they were
looking for a training wig maker and that’s what
I did: I got the job straight away.
Once there?
They already had the wig department. The guy
who trained me had originally started up at
Rootstein. He retired eventually and I worked
with him and a small team of people, eventually
becoming head of department. Then I left to
open my own company.
That bears your name.
Correct, but I am rebranding it into “Peluca
Studio”, that is the Spanish way to say wig. My
life partner is Spanish and I just think it’s a
beautiful word. You know, wig is not a nice word
in English. I like the ring to it in Spanish. I am
rebranding these days for EuroShop.
This marks your first collaboration with
Bonaveri. Your other clients and works?
I work with Selfridges, and they do have some
Bonaveri, with Topshop - and I just did their
Christmas windows - and with other smaller
clients.
And how does your collaboration work?
Sometimes it is based on a brief, sometimes I am
asked to design from scratch and make proposals.
In this case with Bonaveri? What are you working on
for them?
I am working on three collections: Obsession, Twiggy
and Tribe: I made each wig for a specific head. They
had to send me the mannequins in London, so I have
all of them in my studio. My studio is absolutely full of
mannequins!
As for Obsession, I was given a brief; Emma (Davidge)
had some idea of images she wanted. She had found
some photos of the Sixties and Seventies hairstyles
that she loved and wanted to recreate. The inspiration
comes from the ‘70s moment, from all the glamour of
Studio 54… there are such amazing pictures of Diana
Ross on the dance floor with an afro hairdo. And from
there, suggested by Emma, I made these inspired
ostrich feather hats.
What does a wig add to a mannequin? It’s something
very new and unusual for Bonaveri.
I think it really depends on the style of the mannequin.
Personally, if you have a mannequin that has no face,
I don’t really think you need a wig. You know, it’s like
having an egg with a wig on the top! It just really doesn’t
work. For example, I think the Schläppi mannequins
are just beautiful without any wig. It really depends
on what it needs to be. For a stylised mannequin you
would have a more stylised wig or a piece like this for
example [and he shows his feather hats], you wouldn’t
want to have such a realistic wig, because there is no
point.
So what are you going to do for each of these
collections?
A super realistic wig for Tribe. For Twiggy I studied
hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of Twiggy
pictures. She has such an iconic look: for example,
her hair was flicked up in back and flicked back on the
sides and a 1960 pony tail, and you have to consider
these little movements.
When you have someone like Twiggy, you know, she is
so iconic, all know her name all over the world… So, if
you are going to do a mannequin based on someone
like her, you should take care of every detail. I studied
a lot.
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