Elizabeth Arden Red Door National Creative Director -
Zahir Ziani
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Zahir Ziani received his education at Ecole Centrale de Paris in the mid eighties and refined his art with Alexandre Zouari, a premier hairdresser in the finest sense who established his salon one block from the Crazy Horse Salon in Paris. Zahir came to New York's famed Fifth Avenue and became a top hairdresser at Frédéric Fekkai. He moved to Elzabeth Arden, Fifth Avenue and is the Creative Director for the worldwide Red Door enterprise. To give you a sense of what Zahir has accomplished in his career, it is important to reiterate what Fifth Avenue, New York is to the fashion world. New York City's Fifth Avenue is a shopping district unrivaled by the likes of London's Knightsbridge section or Chicago's Magnificent Mile. The 10-block stretch of the most expensive street in the world - from 49th in Greenwich Village through Midtown to 59th Street - is home to every major designer and fashion retailers' flagship stores. Within a few steps, one can move from Frederic Ferrkai to Christo to the Red Door. Zahir has made those steps and owns a good part of the street. He is, in the estimation of many, one of the 50 most influential stylists working today.
Capelli d'Oro witnessed this artist cutting a model for students of the school and we wondered: do these new entrants to our most noble career know just who is standing before them? We do know they witnessed the creation of an extraordinary style and appreciated it nonetheless. The occasion was a three day workshop at Evergreen Beauty College and new employee testing for the opening of Red Door in Bellevue's Bravern, an upscale shopping center. Capelli d'Oro: As the new Creative Director of the Red Door, you follow in the path of some of the most talented and well-known hairdressers in the modern era. What does this honor mean to you personally?
Zahir Ziani: A lot of work and an opportunity to be involved in the future image of hair and fashion style. I can bring the strengths of Parisian hair to Elizabeth Arden and use the talents of our hairdressers to create strong visible collections. With Cheri Scheckler, our National Training Director, we will produce two collections each year: fall-winter and spring-summer.
The Red Door team is traveling from city to city to visit each Red Door and to gather impressions of regional hair. We will evaluate and incorporate the relevant elements into our current collection. This is an exciting process for all of us on the team. Capelli d'Oro: You live in New York and work in the Red Door on 5th Avenue. Where do you live in New York and what restaurants do you prefer?
Zahir Ziani: I live in Manhattan and there are so many great restaurants in just my neighborhood that it is hard to decide which I prefer. Currently, it is Japanese and I love Mori Moto.
Capelli d'Oro: Have you had the chance to visit all of the Red Door Spas?
Zahir Ziani: There are 31 Red Door Spas in North America and I am slowly going to each one. I was recently at the Harrahs Spa in Las Vegas and will come back to Bellevue to launch the Bravern Red Door.
Capelli d'Oro: Elizabeth Arden offers a great compilation of hair and spa products. Which lines or products are you currently using or prefer?
Zahir Ziani: What I use depends upon the look I am reaching for, in both my salon work and in our collections. I presently cherry pick from Davines, Loreal and Churmara and like products that allow me to put invisible finish into the results.
Capelli d'Oro: Your cutting techniques are a delight to witness. You are very precise, but create soft, flexible results in a short time. What would you say about your work?
Zahir Ziani: I use sharp Japanese shears and cut in the French Technique. I worked with Frédéric Fekkai and Alexandre Zouari. Like them, I work with zero tension in perimeters and elevate hair to precise diagonals to shape the hair with scissor points, so that it falls softly but retains its shape. When hair dries and you have cut with tension, the lines shrink and you lose the natural position of the hair.
Capelli d'Oro: Who are your hair heroes?
Zahir Ziani: I admire a variety of hair stylists: each brilliant for different things. Runway, photography, salon work, editorial work: each person I admire is a master of one or the other arena. I like Patrick Cameron for updos and event hair, Frédéric Fekkai for pure beauty, Jacque Dessange for cutting hair, Vidal Sassoon for innovation and business, and Toni and Guy for reigniting passion in hair.
Interview By Edward Paul of Capelli d'Oro ©2009 |
To host Zahir Ziani at the Evergreen Beauty College in Bellevue, Washington - where he and his team met the stylists who will staff the Elizabeth Arden Red Door at the Bravern in September - was a coup in the order of Obadiah Salon hosting Oribe for an evening of cutting and cocktails or Jose Eber and Vidal Sassoon performing their magic in the 1980's in Seattle.