Joe Lai & Heitai Cheung
Big Hair
Libraryman, 2022
Softcover, 44 pages, 22 color plates
Big Hair draws on the upstyles and weaving techniques of 1960s Tokyo, particularly the work of famed geisha hair master Junji Noburyu (also known as Shinryu). Inspired by his passion, photographer Joe Lai (b. 1977, France) and hairstylist Heitai Cheung (b. 1989, Hong Kong) applied his techniques to modern women. The project is based on Noburyu's technical manual, in whose pages Lai and Cheung found a new kind of magic, as did the models, all of whom had dreamed of wearing these classical styles. Cheung spent a year perfecting the techniques needed to complete the series.
