Backstage at New York Fashion Week, the air smells of dry shampoo and espresso, and the racks are colour-coded with the precision of a Pantone fan deck – cerulean, then cobalt, then indigo.
Into this world, this September, stepped two stylists from Surry Hills: Marc Armstrong and Sabrina Maxwell, the duo behind hair atelier Marc & Maxwell, enlisted by hair care label Mr Smith to work the shows.
The Roots
Despite its glossy facade, their Sydney salon itself has a scrappier origin story than its polished Bourke Street shopfront suggests. Armstrong and Maxwell opened Marc & Maxwell in September 2020, in the thick of lockdown, after years of saving toward a space of their own. Armstrong later invested heavily in his own education, including a stint studying at the Vidal Sassoon Academy in London. It was a grounding in a craft that, five years on, would land him backstage in Manhattan.
The Brief
“Sabrina and I went to New York to work with Mr Smith during New York Fashion Week,” Armstrong says. “We were part of the hair team working backstage on NYFW and we also worked on the Indigenous Fashion Week shows, which was a first for us. It was an amazing opportunity to represent Marc & Maxwell internationally and work alongside such a creative team.”
Their role sat under some serious names. “We were there as hairstylists, helping create the hair looks for the models under the lead of selected hair Directors such as Junya Nakashima, Amy Farid and Freda Rossidis,” he explains. “That involved prepping hair, working with different textures, creating the runway looks and making sure everything was ready for showtime.”
Show Days
Ask Armstrong what a typical day looked like and the answer is: no such thing. “The show days were pretty full on,” he says. “Sabrina and I were sometimes split across different shows, which meant we both had slightly different experiences. You arrive, get briefed on the look, prep the models — this can mean anything from passing pins and tying ponytails or being in charge of a look from start to finish. You often work to your strengths as it’s a high pressure environment. Working within a team you get to pick up plenty of different techniques.”
Confirmation, if it were needed, that this was the real thing: “Yeah sure was,” he says of the NYFW billing. “The city was buzzing and they even showed some shows live on a big TV down at the Rockefeller.”
What Stayed With Him
For Armstrong, the pull wasn’t any single show but the machinery of the whole production. “The backstage experience was definitely one of the biggest highlights,” he says. “Seeing how everything comes together between the clothes, hair, makeup and models was amazing. Just being in NY is priceless — you really feel what it’s like to work there. I always get inspired by the place.”
No celebrity run-ins to report, though he’d take one. “No, unfortunately not this time,” he says. “We would have loved a ‘Beyoncé moment’!”
Bringing It Home
What travels back to Sydney isn’t a look to be copied, but a set of instincts. “Definitely the biggest thing is the techniques, ideas and inspiration,” Armstrong says. “You don’t necessarily bring a runway hairstyle back and copy it exactly on a client, but you take elements of the texture, finish, shape and product use and make them wearable. There was a big emphasis on beautiful texture, shine, movement and hair that looked polished without feeling overdone.”
On the Horizon
As for what New York’s runways forecast for the season ahead, Armstrong points to shine. “Glossy, healthy looking hair is going to be huge,” he says. “Bobs and strong shapes are still very relevant, but with more softness and movement. Colour is becoming more dimensional too, with richer brunettes, warmer coppers and reds, and blondes with more depth.” The bigger shift, though, is away from sameness. “The biggest trend for us is individuality – choosing a cut, colour and finish that actually suits the person rather than everyone having exactly the same look.”
Marc & Maxwell began as two stylists working a salon floor alone through a lockdown. This September, under the lights of a New York show, that same partnership was on a very different floor – but the throughline, Armstrong makes clear, was never the address. It was the craft.
