Backstage at the Melbourne Fashion Festival

By Rob Kotevski March 24 2009

Caterina DiBiase (centre) and her team backstage at the L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival.

Being backstage at a fashion show is a thrill that everyone should experience at least once.

You can see and hear the adrenaline pumping in the room right in front of you. The room is small and it’s loud from people shouting over the top of each other.

“We’ve got a spare hairdresser if anybody needs help!”

“45 minutes!”

The heat from the hair dryers and lighting is almost stifling. There’s an army of models sitting and waiting for their hair to be done and for every model present, it seems there are at least three different hair stylists working on them.

Brad Ngata and Heading Out’s Caterina DiBiase were the hair directors at the L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival. Not only does this team supervise the 18 stylists that create the looks seen on the runways, but they are truly at the coalface, getting their hands dirty in sculpting models’ hair with mouths full of bobby pins and brandishing cans of hair spray.

Brad Ngata and model backstage.

“It’s too hot and too much of everything but that’s what it’s all about,” Caterina told myhairdressersearch. “It’s what you’ve got to get done in such a short time frame. That intense energy is when you get the best out of everybody. I believe when the pressure’s on, you really have the best that comes out.

“You don’t work in this pressure every day, but when it comes up, you’re ready for it.”

This small but passionate team is ready for what ever comes its way. National news broadcasts are filled with images of the recession: people who have lost their jobs, families that have lost their homes, share prices that have been tumbling and government bailouts for companies both in Australia and abroad.

Victorians have had to face this and more, with some of the worst bushfires this country has ever seen. What role, if any, can the glamour and romance of fashion and beauty play in this world?

“Everyone wants something to take their mind off it,” Caterina said. “I think there’s nothing better than coming out and seeing some beautiful fashion and beautiful hair and just have that short time out of your environment.”

The hair team backstage.

The sombre mood of Australians at the moment was not necessarily reflected on the runways at this year’s fashion festival. Escapism was the order of the day for the hair stylists and designers, but they were still sensitive to the world around them.

“I think we’re pushing it a little more because I think people are looking for something special and something inspiring,” Caterina said. “We don’t want to see dull and tame. That’s not what they’re [the public] coming for. They do want to see glamour. It doesn’t have to be over the top but it has to be inspiring. They’re coming out to be inspired and get their minds off the doom and gloom.”

Brad agrees. “I think in fashion you can afford to have a little more fun. We’re kind of recycling things. Everything comes back. People are looking at what they’ve got and they’re really trying to work with what they’ve got.”

“It’s very exciting this year,” Caterina said. “Everyone’s out there to impress.”

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