It takes a true visionary to redefine what’s already out there: to look at what others perceive to be the limits and bring about a new world without any. And that is exactly what Wella’s Global Creative Director, Colour, Josh Wood, has achieved with Bronde Luxe: the new AW16 collection. In-between that and tending to his exclusive London salons and many A-list celebrity clients, we caught up with him.
Hi Josh, what inspired you to create the Bronde Luxe collection?
Josh: I had always thought there was something missing there to be honest. It was nagging at me. So moving Bronde into a totally professional technique-driven area were we can add incredible light to any hair – from dark to light, was the goal. Whether it’s adding violets into black or bronze into dark brown. It’s a new way of thinking about how you create a premium colour. With Bronde Luxe, we’ve achieved exactly that.
So you really had to break new ground here – is that something that drives you personally?
Josh: Putting creative boundaries is what gets me out of bed. With the salons we’ve a unique concept. With Wella, I always strive to bring something that will excite hairdressers: get them inspired to seek and discover newness for themselves. Bronde Luxe transforms the concept of Bronde. It’s not about a dark blonde with a few highlights – this is about taking a Tuscan red and pushing it all the way through to strawberry with discipline and technique.
What does the fusion of comfort and luxury mean to you?
Josh: People don’t want to suffer for their looks anymore. They demand comfort, but on a high-end premium level. This is about making the colour creation process more fluid. With the new techniques, we’ve hit the mark. The results are amazing but the way we get there is actually not that demanding. Hairdressers can deliver Bronde Luxe looks without forgetting what they already know. It’s more about changing the mindset to what can be done with light.
The Bronde Luxe Collection brought together a creative dream team – wouldn’t you say?
Josh: Working with Renya from Australia and Darren from the UK- it’s been a real collaboration where colour and styling share an absolutely equal stage. Adding light to Darren’s cuts, adding a little purplish violet tone to Renya’s styles – these have been really key moments for me. Adding light to any hairstyle really makes it feel luxurious and glamorous. I’m working with stylists that completely understand light and dark, and that is such a gift. Thank you guys!
Bronde Luxe Colour:
A premium colour service that turns bronde into prestige colour with enticing nuances of pearl, olive and coffee. We then dare to go further, pushing Bronde into different colour spaces: bringing depth to blondes, for reds we create a transition from tizian red to sunkissed strawberry, from blueish ash to icy platinum, from nearly black to violet. In AW16 Bronde gets more than one face – a whole premium spectrum in a colour palette of shadowed light.
The Bronde Luxe Collection has been made possible through the use of Illumina. Born from an idea Josh had about the unique sunlight in LA and brought to life through the dedicated research and development team at Wella Professionals. Could there ever be a more luxurious, light-giving colour? “What’s incredibly interesting is now we’ve got the new Illumina 5/02 – this is a really olive brunette: it’s so amazing to work with on so many skin tones. It gives the ability to create a completely neutral, almost matte olive brown. Imaging deep, dark brunette shades that still shine within an incredible light. It really gives me the ability to work on base shades of level 4 or darker, yet still creates smokey, deep ash browns.” Illumina colour coming together with Bronde Luxe techniques enhances the texture for completely unseen results.
“Illumina colour has always been about creating light in colour – about pushing boundaries for exciting new results. With this collection we’ve introduced an exciting new shade and focused on darker elements that perfectly balance the light-crafting what we call shadowed light.”
Within the collection there are several different textures. From a very natural, almost afro texture all the way through to very soft, flat waves. But curls are also incredibly important to be able to bounce the light from. The idea that the inner curl is darker and the outer curl reflects the light was central to creating something revolutionary that hairdressers could follow. “Looking at techniques that we used with Illumina colour and the collection has been really interesting. Working with vertical panels of light and horizontal panels of light but never without a contrasting darker tone. Adding darker, deeper tones and then being able to highlight so you can really show almost the crest of the waves or the edge of a fringe – now that’s really the way to create a premium colour.
