NATURE OF DESIGN

Celebrity hairstylist Franco Vallelonga takes Eden Noronha through his journey of almost thirty years, spanning across three continents

- Eden Noronha

In search of the perfect creative outlet, Franco Vallelonga, a design student, ventured into hairstyling and found it to be the right fit for him. With industry experience in diverse fields from working in cities like Perth, Sydney, London, and currently Mumbai, Vallelonga has honed his skills by styling for various ad campaigns and A-list celebrities. We go behind the scenes to understand the workings of a hairstylist adept in colour, cut, and styling.

What inspired you to become a hairstylist? Take us through your journey and how it all started.

I have an Italian background; my parents are Italian. I was born in Perth, Australia. So, I studied there for four years and worked in one of the biggest salons which got me into doing photoshoots. I wanted to move on and do something different. I planned to move to London, but prior to that I moved to Sydney for a year and did more photoshoots along side working in a salon. I moved to London in 2000, I started again in a salon; I was the artistic director which included managing the creative team of the salon. I was a part of the British F.A.M.E Team which is basically for people under the age of 30 working in the industry to get more education and do many photoshoots. I did that for a year, and it introduced me to some of the biggest hairdressers in London. The networking helped me move into the direction of assisting these industry moguls, which provided the exposure I needed. I lived in London for 16 years. I did numerous advertisements for hair and bit of BTS, that’s what I specialised in. I dabbled a little bit in television, did few movies. My first movie was with Madonna. Then I started going to places like China and Singapore on projects, that is how I ended up doing a lot of work in Asia.