CHARLIE LE MINDU RETURNS TO PARIS WITH "SKINS COUTURE SS/26"

Written by Gawain Semlear

A Paris fashion show is rarely typical; then again, neither is Charlie Le Mindu. This French-born, New York-based coiffeur has been titillating audiences with his eccentric hair costumes since launching his wig collections at London Fashion Week in 2009. He’s worked with a variety of high-profile artists and brands, including Doja Cat, Chappell Roan, Chanel, and Vivienne Westwood. 

“Skins Couture SS26” is Le Mindu’s new hair-clothing collection, which premiered on January 29, marking his return to the runway after ten years. Speaking to VALŪS, the collection embraces what he calls, “the poetry behind fashion. It showcases the many different techniques and different DNAs of human hair.” 

The show was sponsored in part by BYREDO, which imbued the materials of each look with their Hair Perfume, creating an additional layer of experience.

Paramount to Le Mindu's ethos is not just visibility, but showing bodies as nebulous—fraught with contradictions, beauty, and ever-changing notions of desire. The show's primary partner, mega-adult brand Pornhub, reified this philosophy in that it created a dialogue between Le Mindu’s work and the ongoing campaign to celebrate the human form, in all its iterations. “Pornhub, for me, is about visibility and being proud of bodies,” he explains. 

Alex Kekesi, VP of Brand and Community for Pornhub, says that their sponsorship of the show is a part of a continuing effort to support artists, both on and off the platform. 

As guests filed into the white-washed, industrial room serving as the runway, performers in skin-tone undergarments stood in the center, melodically slathering white mud on their bodies. The effect was like that of a well-choreographed ballet, wherein movements flowed seamlessly, evoking a calm, soothing atmosphere. 

All looks in Le Mindu’s collection were made from real human hair. Models boasted designs regal and sultry, from thigh-high boots fashioned out of kinky black hair to a cape woven from french braids. Pieces played with a partially-concealed nudity that demanded not only attention but reverence. Peeking through resplendent furs and diaphanous lace, nipples begged to be seen. True to his vision, Le Mindu showed that shame has no place in his collection, or world. 

Thematically, Paris Haute Couture Week exhibited a Rousseauian return to nature—from Schiaparelli’s exotic looks adorned with animal parts to Chanel’s fairy-tale-pink forest. In contrast to these ethereal, escapist tropes, Le Mindu offered something rawer: an image of the body and its accoutrements not as an unrealistic fantasy but as a point of generative tension, where conflict begets growth. Utilizing diverse and far-out hair costumes to protect the body, his collection shows vulnerability and power as analogous. Even a material as brittle and soft as hair can be our armor, our livelihood. 

The show was capped with an afterparty where Le Mindu, a bonafide multi-hyphenate, performed onstage with his musical group MUCHAS PROBLEMAS. The electronic synths accompanied by his erratic and ebullient dancing was reminiscent of Berlin’s storied nightlife, in which Le Mindu came of age. 

His set was topped off by iconic electroclash musician Peaches performing in silicone pasties coated in hair. Her and Le Mindu have been collaborating together since the latter was sixteen. Each has a reputation for pushing the envelope in unforeseen and radically creative directions—and for having the most fabulous ‘dos. 

“For both of us, through this provocation, hair becomes a very essential element,” says Peaches. It’s a vehicle for understanding desire and topics surrounding gender and identity. “I want to be a part of Charlie’s show anytime I can. And I want him to be a part of mine. He’s my boy.” 

It seems that Le Mindu is giving the public a tasting menu, so to speak, of his creative genius. And we better come with a good appetite. Because whether it’s hair, costume, music, or the runway, what he’s serving is bound to be plentiful and rich. 

CREDITS

VIDEOS | Gawain Semlear

PHOTOS | Csaba Vágó

EDITOR | Alex Blynn