HAIR-RAISING: Creations by Charlie Le Mindu, who takes the métier of hairstyling to new — and otherworldly — dimensions, by weaving tresses into clothing and sculptures, will be auctioned off at Artcurial this fall.
On Oct. 5, at the close of Paris Fashion Week, at 3 p.m. CET a selection of the artist’s iconic works will go under the hammer at the Right Bank auction house. Twenty-one of Le Mindu’s creations are to be there, including “Blonde Lips,” which was worn by Lady Gaga in her “Bad Romance” music video that garnered 1.5 billion views. Made of natural hair, silk and polyurethane foam, the supersized lips perched atop her head.
Le Mindu’s madcap creations starred in his Haute Coiffure shows, which mostly took place in London. These had names such as “Gold Sabah,” “Metal Queen” and “Girls in Paradise.”
“Florescent Species,” another artwork, resembles a massive, florescent jellyfish, with a gray-purple top and greenish tentacles that cover the wearer’s face. That was part of Le Mindu’s spring 2014 Haute Coiffure collection, which was presented in Paris in January of that year.
“The works of Charlie Le Mindu are the very incarnation between Haute Coiffure and Haute Couture,” said Clara Vivien, luxury fashion and accessories specialist at Artcurial, in a statement. “We are proud to be the first to offer at auction the work of this extraordinary visual artist.”
“What I look for is details, and what the message behind beauty is, basically,” Le Mindu said in a WWD article published in December 2020. “I don’t really care if something is beautiful [visually], because we all have a different perception of what beauty is. I want to see a message behind it.”
