From romantic braided texture to raw, underground dishevelment, Danilo Giangreco has translated Dreaming Eli’s journey from childhood dreams to adult reality into a four-stage hair story.
For Spring/Summer 2027, Dreaming Eli presented Dreamers in Exile, a collection exploring the transition from the impossible dreams of childhood to the reality inherited through adulthood.
Leading the hair direction, Revlon Professional UK & Ireland Artistic Director, Danilo Giangreco translated the narrative into a constantly evolving series of looks, using texture, braiding and controlled dishevelment to chart the emotional journey of the collection.
Rather than creating four separate hairstyles, Danilo approached the show as one continuous hair story. The hair begins romantic and nostalgic, gradually becomes more intricate and undone, moves into a darker and more rebellious territory, before ultimately returning to a sense of childhood wonder, carrying the texture and imperfections of the journey with it.
“The starting point was this idea of childhood dreams and the idealised world we create around them,” said Danilo.
“I wanted the hair to feel romantic and quite beautiful at the beginning, but then gradually lose that control as the characters move into adulthood. The texture becomes stronger, the braids become more undone and eventually the hair becomes much rawer and more dishevelled.”
The show opened with textured braided semi-up styles, establishing the youthful and romantic character of the collection.
The hair was deliberately tactile, with braiding providing structure while maintaining a soft, imperfect finish. Rather than polished or overly precise, the styles retained movement and texture, giving the looks a nostalgic quality while hinting that the dreamlike world was beginning to unravel.
As the show progressed, Danilo intensified both the braiding and texture. The semi-up silhouette remained, but became increasingly intricate and undone, with texture building through the lengths. This progression was central to his interpretation of the collection.
“The braid almost becomes a representation of the memories and dreams that we carry with us. At first it is quite controlled and romantic, but as the story develops it starts to break apart. I wanted you to see the same hair evolving rather than suddenly changing from one look to another.”
The turning point came as the collection moved into a darker, more rebellious phase.
Drawing on the visual language of tattoos and the techno underground, Danilo stripped away much of the structure from the crown. The braiding then gave way to loose, sections of disrupted hair.
“This is where the hair really enters the underground world, we lose the neatness of the braid around the crown and start breaking everything up. It becomes much more instinctive, almost as though the hair has been disturbed rather than styled.”
For the final looks, Danilo brought the hair story full circle. The semi-up silhouette returned, but it is no longer as controlled with looser braids and abundant texture.
“I didn’t want the final hair to go back to being perfect, It must show everything that has happened. We bring back the romance and the braid, but it is looser, messier and more lived-in. It is almost like finding that childhood feeling again, but with everything you have experienced as an adult.”
The result is a hair story that moved seamlessly through the collection from innocence to disruption and finally to rediscovery.