Oribe Canales, the Supermodels’ Hairstylist of Choice, Has Died
See remembrances from Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, and Linda Evangelista on Instagram.
Celebrity hairstylist Oribe Canales has died, according to his longtime friend Mary Greenwell and confirmed by The New York Times’s Matthew Schneier. He was 62.
Little else is known about the circumstances of Canales’s death. “While we don’t have an official statement from the family at this time, we can confirm that this sad news is true,” a representative for the brand wrote in an email to W. “Oribe was an amazing hairdresser and friend and will be missed. Out of respect for his partner, Zaki, and his family, we have no further comment at this time.”
In the late ’70s, the hairstylist Garren adopted the Cuban-born, North Carolina-raised Canales as his protégé; from there, throughout the ’80s and early ’90s, Canales embarked on a rapid ascent to notoriety, largely through his editorial work with Steven Meisel and François Nars as well as his work backstage at many a top fashion show. A staunch advocate for massive volume hair, he “did for hairdressing what Arnold Schwarzenegger did for bodybuilding,” his protegé Brad Johns told The New York Times in 2005—that is, he steered it toward maximalism.
Revisit the Late Hairstylist Oribe Canales’s Greatest Hits in W
Jennifer Lopez photographed by Mario Sorrenti with hairstyling by Oribe Canales for W Magazine, August 2013.
Meghan Collison photographed by Craig McDean with hairstyling by Oribe Canales for W Magazine, March 2008.
Joan Smalls photographed by Steven Meisel with hairstyling by Oribe Canales for W Magazine, July 2012.
Christy Turlington photographed by Art Streiber with hairstyling by Oribe Canales for W Magazine, November 1993.
Linda Evangelista photographed by Steven Klein with hairstyling by Oribe Canales for W Magazine, October 2008.
Photograph by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott with hairstyling by Oribe Canales for W Magazine, January 2007.
Liu Wen photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott with hairstyling by Oribe Canales for W Magazine, March 2014.
Hilary Swank photographed by Steven Klein with hairstyling by Oribe Canales for W Magazine, January 2008.
Tyra Banks photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott with hairstyling by Oribe Canales for W Magazine, March 2014.
Georgia May Jagger photographed by Craig McDean with hairstyling by Oribe Canales for W Magazine, September 2010.
Carmen Carrera photographed by Steven Meisel with hairstyling by Oribe Canales for W Magazine, September 2013.
Agyness Deyn photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott with hairstyling by Oribe Canales for W Magazine, January 2007.
Photograph by Craig McDean with hairstyling by Oribe Canales for W Magazine, May 2011.
Karlie Kloss photographed by Steven Meisel with hairstyling by Oribe Canales for W Magazine, July 2012.
Elsa Sylvan photographed by Craig McDean with hairstyling by Oribe Canales for W Magazine, June 2008.
Concomitant with his rise were those of the original supermodels, like Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, and Cindy Crawford, devotees of Canales’s work all of them. (According to New York magazine, Turlington introduced Meisel—and, by extension, Nars and Canales—to Campbell and Evangelista. “‘The Trinity’ was born,” Alex Williams wrote in 1986.) Canales was recruited to style for photographer Richard Avedon and on the runway for Versace and Marc Jacobs at Perry Ellis, where, though it contrasted with his prevailing taste, he helped usher in the low-volume, dirtbag-grunge aesthetic: “Marc wanted me to stick a barrette in the model’s hair without having it actually hold anything. He was very progressive, and I hated it,” Canales told Into the Gloss in 2013.
In addition to his fashion clients—who also counted among them Karen Elson and Emily Ratajkowski, as well as labels like Louis Vuitton and Tom Ford—Canales became the go-to hairstylist for one Jennifer Lopez. In 2008, he started the eponymous hair-care brand Oribe, whose dry texturizing spray went on to inspire cultlike devotion; the label recently celebrated its 10th anniversary.
Canales’s friends, peers, and clients have consigned their remembrances to social media, posting on Instagram and Twitter in his memory. Scroll on for a few of the most touching tributes to the late hairstylist.
