Body of work: Career highlights from Kérastase’s artistic director Luigi Murenu

Together Again

Murenu’s first project with Kérastase is a texture-driven styling range that launches this summer. The campaign face is Kate Moss, whom Murenu met in the early ‘90s when he did her hair for the WWD cover that announced her Calvin Klein contract.

Murenu and Moss on set for the Kérastase ad campaign.

Murenu says the volume-building Kérastase mousse bouffante ($36, at salons) is one of his favourite products in the line. “It’s [texture] reminds me of tiramisu.”

Sliding Doors

Murenu hails from Sardinia, Italy. (“I miss the bottarga,” he says of the Mediterranean caviar.) Before moving to Paris to become a hairstylist, he performed in a modern jazz troupe. “My parents said, ’We will only pay for your studies, not for you dancing,” recalls Murenu. “[Hairstyling] was backstage, but still a stage.”

Animal Beauty

Murenu has worked with countless models, some hairier than others. “My friend, costume designer Colleen Atwood, suggested that Tim Burton hire a consultant for the chimpanzee hair in Planet of the Apes. I had all these ape busts in my house. If someone had broken in, they would have been really scared.”

Fabric Pattern

The crimping iron may be making a comeback thanks in part to Murenu, who used one on Kate Moss for the ethereal flower girl spread in i-D Magazine’s spring 2013 issue, and to create textured chignons at Zac Posen Fall 2013. Murenu had to persuade the reluctant designer- who may have been picturing ‘80s mall rats. “It makes the hair like mohair,” says Murenu.