‘Day-to-day life is so boring!'
The life of Barry Finnegan of MorganB Hair reads like an epic adventure filled with struggle, strength, laughter and pride. His long career hairdressing began in the summer of 1987, relying heavily on the left side of his brain in those pre-internet days for creating incredible hair. Barry is a visionary with more than two decades of experience in hair design and photography. He’s an artistic director, a creative director and a lover of all things. He is an apt believer in the balance of yin and yang. And his masterful skill for envisioning and creating revolutionary hair is sought across the fashion and entertainment industries…
Hi Barry! Tell us something about your background
My mother is 60 years old; she is young at heart and she travels the world. She is retired now; when we were kids she worked so hard and had two or more jobs at any one time. She never relied on the State or anyone for anything. She taught us how to be self-sufficient.
I was raised by my grandmother, who taught me to be a people person, how to be part of the community, to share with people who had little and how to get on with others. My grandmother thought me the lost important lesson that I will never forget, which is unconditional love.
I remember as a young boy, she picked me up from school one day; it was raining real hard, and she had only one raincoat but she took the raincoat off and made me stand behind her as we walked across the green because the wind and rain was so bad. That is a lesson in life: she protected me, sheltered me, which I will never forget.
How did you get into hairdressing?
I needed a Saturday job, so when I was 14 [I started working at a] salon to sweep hair off the floor, washing people’s hair, etc. The honest reason I worked at the salon at 14 was because I got to be surrounded by girls every Saturday!
I gradually got more and more into it – hairdressing, I mean. Then I went to my first hair show when I was 15 and realised there are 90 per cent women and 10 per cent men, and most of the 10 per cent guys are gay. As a young bloke I loved it, being surrounded by beautiful women. I thought: “If you don’t score somewhere like this, there’s something wrong with you!”
What was hairdressing like for you when you first started?
My hairdressing apprenticeship lasted four years. When I was 16, I entered my first hair competition; at this stage I was serving my apprenticeship. I didn’t win anything at the competition, but it gave me a taste and the drive for my profession. It didn’t matter that I didn’t win anything.
Then a very famous hairdresser, Guy Kremer, came to Dublin to do a live show, so I rang L’Oreal because I wanted to work backstage with him. After hassling them so many times, they eventually allowed me work as his assistant. The memorable thing is that Guy brought me onto the stage and allowed me to work on a hairstyle: that was my first ever experience of being on a stage as a hairstylist.
After your apprenticeship, what happened next?
It happened that at the Guy Kremer live show there were two people who had come from the UK to see it. After the show they approached me – it turned out they owned three salons in Manchester, They assumed I was well known, experienced and skilled because I was on stage with Guy Kremer. Then they offered me a job to manage one of their new salons in Manchester.
I did a little background check on them by asking around, and found out who they were and that they were legit. I was so excited that I left Dublin three days later. I had no idea where I was going or what to expect, it was crazy!
How many years did you spend in Manchester?
My intention was never to stay in Manchester forever; I just wanted to learn how to run a salon because I want to succeed. I knew I wouldn’t have been offered that same position in Dublin because people knew me, how young I was, and at 19-years-old in Dublin in 1990 there wasn’t much going on, so I had to go acquire new skills and experience. I worked in Manchester for two years, then decided to come back to Dublin and got a job to manage a salon, which I did for 17 years.
What have you done in the years since?
As well as managing the salon with 20 staff, I got a job as artistic director of Matrix, owned by L’Oreal, That job brought me to many places doing live hair shows. Basically I was involved in the educational side of hairdressing, training new hairdressers how to cut and style hairdos. Sometimes I spent five days in Dublin and two days in the UK. Today I am very lucky, I am at a stage in my life that I can chose people I want to do my photographic work with.
What is your current job title?
Strictly speaking I am a hairdresser. Things have evolved over the years. I started MorganB Hair, which I specifically wanted to specialise in high-end for photographic work. I liked the high fashion side to it and now this is what I like to spend my time doing. I am a session stylist specialising in hair for photography and fashion shows, and I also have regular clients in the salon where I currently work, Cezanne (on Drury Street).
How did MorganB Hair come about?
After working inside and outside Ireland, at different shows and shoots, training and mentoring people, I decided to set up MorganB Hair. My grandmother’s name is Morgan, so I decided to name it after her, to honour the memory of her.
What is fashion to you?
The work I do is totally escapism, where nothing else matters, just creating shapes with the right elements. No one has ever been to the salon to ask for what you see in high-fashion photos. A woman walks out in the morning, she wears grey pencil skirt suit, she carries a briefcase, her hair is tied back in a ponytail, she wears some makeup – what she’s doing is putting a label on herself that says ‘I am very serious about what I do, here is what I am’.
Fashion is escapism: creating another reality, creating a moment. The last shoot I did is titled Eve 2013; it’s my vision of Eve nowadays, someone that has been tainted by the world, been around the block (not in a dirty way). I want other people to see how I see Eve; from my photographic work I want others to see the ways I escape from the world. I see the world everyday, I wake up in the morning I see the world. My escapism is being able to create something other than what we have. I have my own ideas and visions of the world.
Where do you get your inspiration?
I get inspired by my desire or need to escape from reality. Day-to-day life is boring! I escape to search for adventure and stimulation – and there’s no better way than to create it yourself. I get a huge buzz from having an idea in my head; the challenge is being able to explain it to a photographer or make-up artist and then making it into a picture that will always be there.
Who are your role models in the fashion world?
I am inspired by people such as David LaChapelle, a renowned international high-fashion photographer whose career began in the 1980s. I really like his work [and the work of] session stylists Odile Gilbert and Guido. I would love to work with these people.
What do you look for when you chose whom to work with, whether photographers, makeup artists or models?
I look for perfection and I want perfection. I want to get better and better at what I do. I still haven’t created that perfect photographic work yet. Everybody wants perfection but sadly you never get it. I try to work with different people – you must try them for size, to see the quality of their work, [and] if their work ethic, skill and passion align with my vision.
What is the Irish fashion industry like for you?
At the primary level we have people that are very forward-thinking, world-class. At the secondary level, those who are keeping up with fashion. And then there is the rest. I have had the pleasure to work with a small group of people who are leading fashion in Ireland, they are very forward-thinking and can keep up with the rest of the world. Claire Garvey as a fashion designer is world-class; the hairdresser Dylan Bradshaw is doing very well on the international platform; and Barry McCall is also a world-class photographer. These people are at the pinnacle of their game.
There are a few good catwalk models too, the only problem is that we see the same faces over and over again. The Andrea Roach Agency is currently the only world-class model agency in Ireland.
In your opinion, has the Irish fashion industry been transformed in terms of diversity?
The Irish fashion industry is very small. I do believe it is not racist, and it embraces all people. Two examples of incredibly talented non-Irish I have worked with are Oksana Slipchenko from Ukraine and photographer Tatiana Grytsayeva.
If you had asked me this question a couple of years ago, I would have said yes, the industry was [xenophobic], but today I think we are ready now. People like me are ready to reform it and make it more accepting of the fact that we are now a multicultural society.
Would you agree that the Irish fashion industry is racist towards black models?
Yes, unfortunately it is. But it doesn’t make a difference to me what height or colour a model is. I am drawn to the eyes and features of their faces.
What makes a good photographer?
Individual skills differ. Attention to detail and Photoshop skills for post-production are both essential. Photographers have different techniques. Some set up the shot, spend time just doing minute tweaking of the set, the best angle, the light and model, and at the end of the session they have five to 10 magnificently posed and structured shots. Others just captured the moment, and take a thousand photos in a session.
I have worked with amazing photographers that set up the shots and those that capture the moment. It is challenging but ultimately exciting because each time I have to change the way I work. A good photographer has to know about lighting, how to bring out the best in any model.
What makes a good model?
I prefer to work with a freelance model, someone with an interesting face and ideally not with an agency. A couple of photoshoot sessions does not make a professional model. There is a lot more to it.
What’s your advice to young people venturing into the fashion and hair industries?
Basically I did and I am currently doing what makes me happy. My advice is to try many things until you discover the thing or things that makes you happy. However, for those who love hair, the best training will be to get an apprenticeship, stick the four years out, and eventually what you learn will help you in becoming the hair stylist you envision yourself to be. Apprenticeship is important.
What do you think about all these hairdressing schools popping up in Ireland?
They can teach you how to do good hair, but a serious hairdresser has got to spend the four years in doing an apprenticeship. Stay away from the cup-a-soup courses! What I do is a craft, and the only way you learn a craft is by spending time with an expert, watching them and learning from them.
Hairdressing schools do not teach you important things like time management, managing people, dealing with people, how to deal with the salon situation, etc. The only way to do it is to spend the time learning the things you need to know.
What is the future for Barry Finnegan?
I love doing hair, I love what I do and I am very lucky to have travelled all over the world doing what I truly enjoy. For me, this isn’t a job, it is my life. I have done hairdressing since I was 14 and I do not know anything else. I would love to be the ideas man, the concept developer and creator like John Galliano, [creating] extravagant, experimental, forward-thinking, out-of-this-world concepts for shows and shoots! n
