FRANCK IZQUIERDO
LEO IZQUIERDO
“You put it in your hair and just go. It’ll give you shine and body and looks sick no matter what city you’re in.”
“After it has been in the hair for a few hours, the texture actually gets better. Plus, you can create a look with just your hands.”
LOCATION: IGK, SLS HOTEL SOUTH BEACH, MIAMI FAVORITE PRODUCT: RICH KID COCONUT OIL GEL
LOCATION: IGK, SLS HOTEL SOUTH BEACH, MIAMI FAVORITE PRODUCT: BEACH CLUB TEXTURE SPRAY
Franck got his start in the fashion capital of the world, Paris, where he was raised with a strong lineage of hairdressers in his family. After leaving the City of Light, where he was working in his parents’ salon, he went straight to London to learn at Toni&Guy. A few years later, he opened the first Toni&Guy salon in Paris at the age of 21. “It was 1999, and the girls from Paris wanted ‘the look’ at the time: fringe with long hair and soft layers,” said Franck. “Paris was super classic and boring then, so when we arrived from London, people freaked out for the new techniques.” Three other locations opened, their staff grew to 400 and Franck became a Global Creative Director for the brand—but, he says, his mind was always in the U.S. Franck left Paris in 2006 and beelined for the states, spending his first year bouncing between New York and Miami and working on his French clients like Léa Seydoux and DJs like David Guetta and Martin Garrix. “I wanted to observe in the U.S. for a while to make sure I was going to like it and be able to hustle and create my own vision,” said Franck, whose A-list clients now include the likes of Catherine Zeta-Jones, Vera Wang, Sophia Amoruso, Rachael Taylor, Ashanti and Winona Ryder. Franck settled in Miami with his brother Leo and opened a salon above Barney’s New York in South Beach, followed by a Privé Salon location in the Philippe Starck-designed SLS Hotel. Chase and Aaron eventually crossed paths with Franck and his brother while traveling, teaching and doing creative direction together with Privé. They launched IGK Miami (in the SLS space) first, with the second and third locations to follow in New York and L.A. “I think the strength of the brand is that we are four,” he said. “We love different things, but in the end, we are on the same page. It’s like fashion: I love Saint Laurent. I’m not a fan of Givenchy, but I still respect Givenchy because it’s f-cking cool.”
Leo moved to the U.S. with his older brother, Franck, after a hugely successful salon career with Toni&Guy in Paris. Once in South Florida, he helped launch their Miami salons and worked backstage at New York, Paris and Miami Fashion Weeks for designers like Roberto Cavalli and Chanel. Now, Leo is based out of the IGK Salon in the SLS Hotel where it’s “like a club during the day” with loud music playing at all hours and servers who make margaritas for his clients right in the 10-chair location. “When I arrived in Miami 10 years ago, it was nothing compared to New York and L.A.,” said Leo. “Now I love the lifestyle here. It’s growing so there’s a lot of opportunity.” He also loves working with his brother, with whom he has been creating beautiful hair since the two were young teens working together in London and Paris. “We are bonded with hairdressing in our blood,” Leo said. “We help each other a lot, we have a lot of fun, and we laugh a lot. We understand each other, sometimes only with the eyes.” It’s those unspoken connections that prove to be crucial in a creative venture that always needs to be ahead of the curve on fashion and trends. Leo, who is partial to doing long hair with long layers, looks to travel and social media to keep up. “I think the new generation is more about natural hair with a lot of product and texture,” he explains. “Next year, it will be all about straight hair, and bangs and dark color will come back for winter— we’ve seen enough blondes.” Until then, Leo has his fair share of well-known clients to keep happy, including singer Lykke Li and Victoria's Secret model Anais Mali. But when he talks about his successes, he still calls back to his roots. “My grandfather built everything my family has with hairdressing,” he explains. “I’m proud of it. It’s a tough business. And I’m sure he can see everything we’re doing now.”
CHASE KUSERO
AARON GRENIA
LOCATION: IGK, SLS HOTEL BEVERLY HILLS, LOS ANGELES FAVORITE PRODUCT: RICH KID COCONUT OIL GEL
LOCATION: IGK, DREAM HOTEL DOWNTOWN, NEW YORK CIT Y FAVORITE PRODUCT: TRUST FUND THICKENING FOAM
“I had the name in my mind for a long time, and I knew I wanted coconut oil in it.”
“The spray foam leaves you with texture, volume and grit, but it's still soft and moveable.”
You’ll usually find Aaron—a tall, tattooed, motorcycle-riding, Rick Owenswearing redhead—at the IGK Salon nestled in the large, glamorous lobby of New York City’s Dream Hotel. Cocktail waitresses pass through the salon to serve food and drinks with names like Frisky Fling, and the pool nearby brings in gorgeous young guests seeking beach waves. “Every era and city wants sexy hair,” said Aaron, whose clients include Elisa Johnson, Sofia Richie and the heavy hitters of New York’s creative industries. “New York has this casual heat that’s a little refined, but relaxed and sexy; L.A. is a little more dirty sexy; and Miami is more polished, glamorous, bouncy sexy.” Being based out of hotels allows the four founders to share the same on-the-go clients and helps them develop their groundbreaking products that play off each market’s varying humidity, dryness and range of seasons. “We worked on the line for two years and tested everything at editorial shoots, on celebrities and in the salon.” Meticulousness comes naturally to Aaron, who’s known for shorter, graphic styles. In fact, he credits his finicky tendencies for originally sparking his interest in hair. “I’m a little obsessive and I think my first fixation was about my hair,” said Aaron, describing memories of getting his childhood haircuts at the local salon in his hometown of Denver. “The barbershop just sucked, so around age 11 my brother and I started to teach ourselves how to cut our own hair. Then in junior high and high school, I would cut other people’s hair. I never got into art or drawing so this was my creative outlet.” Today, his greatest sources of inspiration are the streets of New York—the coolest city on the planet, according to Aaron—as well as his fellow IGK founders. “We look to each other for help and guidance and respect each other’s work like crazy,” said Aaron. “That’s why four is powerful. We each give different input, but we trust each other.”
“When I was first starting out, the guy training me told me to lie about my age,” Chase said about his early days on the floor at Mario Tricoci Salon in Chicago. “I completed beauty school and assisting hours by the time I was 17, but I told clients I was 21 so they wouldn’t freak out about having someone so young cut their hair. I kept this up until my mid-twenties when I realized it was actually better if I was younger.” Chase originally fell in love with hairdressing at 14 when he got his first cut at an upscale salon and saw that there were women everywhere. He practiced on friends by copying the motions he saw his stylist doing in the mirror before leaving high school at 15 to go to cosmetology school and moving to L.A. to join the Sebastian Artistic team at 19. Clearly, Chase doesn’t like to waste time, which is why it comes as no surprise that he had many ideas for the IGK product line before it even began. “My strong point is the branding,” said Chase. “We wanted to make it a little more fun and consumer friendly. Each product can be put into the hair and left to air-dry if you want to keep it easy. I think our product names reflect that, too—they aren’t too complicated, and they really do what they say.” Chase spent a number of years at Chris Macmillan Salon and now works with celebrities like Paris Hilton, Robbie Williams, Mena Suvari, Vanessa Lachey and Jared Leto—in fact, he’s the man behind the actor’s infamous red carpet man bun and man braid. This summer, he opened the L.A. location of IGK, where he cuts and colors, though he’s often in New York and Miami or on the phone with the team discussing the hair zeitgeist of the moment. “Bangs are back right now, and hair’s more blunt on the bottom,” he said. “There’s also less of what we call the ‘Instagram wave.’ The hair is a little bit straighter and not as wavy-wavy.” He’s equally thoughtful about his fashion, opting for brands like Fear of God, Vans, Yeezy and, his favorite, Enfants Riches Déprimés where the admiration is mutual—Chase keyed the Enfants men’s show in Paris this year.
THE PORTFOLIO