For L’Oréal Professionnel, Paris Fashion Week is a testing ground

Thirty minutes to overhaul hair that has already been styled, strip away built-up hairspray and rebuild a look before the model steps onto the catwalk. Backstage at the Courrèges fashion show, there is scarcely any margin for error in hairstyling. For L’Oréal Professionnel, that is precisely what makes the backstage so compelling.

“It’s a ‘torture test’,” says Claire Le Blei, international general Manager at L’Oréal Professionnel. A phrase that neatly captures what the brand is seeking behind the Paris catwalks. This season, 23 hairstylists are on hand for 48 models at Courrèges. In this high-pressure, behind-closed-doors environment, products must hold, be reworked, set, shape and sometimes undo what was created only minutes before. It is a standard L’Oréal Professionnel also uses to put its own formulations to the test.

“For us, backstage is both a place where we test some of our products and see whether they perform better or worse than others. Some products are even still in development,” explains Le Blei.

Paris Fashion Week offers L’Oréal Professionnel a uniquely fertile ground where technical constraints meet creativity.

“We’re here to support the fashion houses. They’re the ones who engage with the creative side, who co-develop the looks, who invent the looks. So there’s no question of imposing an idea or applying a one-size-fits-all recipe from one house to another. The work is built through dialogue with artistic directors and hairstylists. We’re here, in a sense, to provide access and a toolkit,” the executive explains.

This distinction is important for understanding the role the brand seeks to play at the shows.

This relationship is also built over time. L’Oréal Professionnel has been supporting the young designers Pressiat and Weinsanto for several years, and this season it is working with more established houses such as Courrèges, and with Mugler for the first time. This portfolio allows the brand to navigate different creative worlds – from Mugler’s energy to the exploration of materials and innovation associated with Courrèges – without confining hairstyling to a single mould.

But what happens behind the scenes must not remain locked behind backstage doors.

This is where the other strand of the initiative comes in.

“We capture some of the transformations carried out during the shows, featuring a selection of models whose images we are authorised to use. The teams follow their journey through the hands of the hairstylists, show the gestures and break down the different techniques. The content is then broadcast live, before being turned into educational formats, with ‘step-by-step’ guides that make the looks more accessible,” adds Le Blei.

The approach, therefore, goes beyond simply covering Paris Fashion Week.

“Our job is, in a way, to say: we’re going to bring backstage on stage; we’re making it visible. We’re going to be the brand that provides live access to trends the very moment they’re created.”

For L’Oréal Professionnel, the fashion shows are also a way of connecting its community of hairdressers to trends as they emerge. The brand claims a global audience of 3 million people and a presence in 60 markets. A dual community – comprising both professionals and the general public – to which it aims to give access to these images and techniques.

For hairdressers, the appeal lies less in the runway images themselves than in what can be done with them afterwards. Seeing a trend emerge, understanding how it was created, identifying the products and techniques used – all these elements can then inform salon practice.

“They also like to recognise their own products and their own ‘hacks’,” observes Le Blei. And, above all, to stay connected to what their clients are likely to see on social media or in magazines.

The initiative extends beyond the catwalk itself. In Paris, L’Oréal Professionnel also runs a dedicated space, “Backstage Transformation”, on Rue Charonne in the 11th arrondissement, where teams style the hair of a selection of guests. It is an activation that leaves no one by the wayside: models, teams, content, audiences and guests are all brought into the same experience. And whilst Paris Fashion Week remains a major event, the initiative is not intended to stop there. L’Oréal Professionnel is already supporting several international fashion weeks, notably with The Attico in Milan and Proenza Schouler in New York. 

Backstage thus becomes, for L’Oréal Professionnel, a genuine tool for transmitting trends.

On the financial front, L’Oréal Professionnel is part of the L’Oréal Group, which boasts a portfolio of 40 international brands spanning various sectors of the beauty industry. The group as a whole generated a turnover of more than €44 billion.