Ryan Gosling Reincarnated: Hairstylist Paul Hanlon Tells All
It is not a secret around the Beauty High offices that Amanda Elser and I have a bit of a crush (along with the rest of the editors we’ve seen at NYFW) on hairstylist Paul Hanlon. The man is just full of life and a love for what he does, and amidst the chaos of the backstage he has no problem filling us in on his inspiration for each and every look and describing how to get it. Oh, and he’s pretty much Ryan Gosling’s doppelganger.
This morning at Preen’s show I caught Paul before things got especially busy backstage, and let him know that all of us editors have been talking this season, and his uncanny resemblance to the real Gosling has us a bit in a tizzy. His response in his totally drool-worthy accent, was very Paul:
Me: I have to ask — the editors are calling you “the Ryan Gosling of the backstage,” did you know that? How do you feel about it?
Paul: (laughs) Absolutely confident. Ah, maybe it’s, it’s sort of funny actually a year ago I was working on a shoot, you know the model Kendra? Really beautiful girl, and anyway they kept saying Paul you really look like him. Cause I used to have longer hair, and they used to say have you seen the film The Notebook and I didn’t know, like didn’t really know about it. I knew the name but didn’t really know what he did, and then I watched the film and my God, the film is just like beyond. And then obviously you know, then I started to read up a bit more and he did some amazing film when he was younger like Nelson something [Half Nelson], like with the teacher and all that. And then like when he did Drive, I loved his hair in that and I was like, you know I’ve been so many things with my hair, like I had it long I was into rock music and I had, um, I had like messy long hair. When I saw his hair I thought cause I’m getting a bit older now, I need to look more like grown up a little bit, I just loved his hair, I mean he’s amazing in that film. And um, in the end, it’s just kinda funny, what sorta people say, but it’s a compliment. But I when I look at it, it’s sorta funny, I bumped into him outside my hotel about four months ago, and I came out of the Maritime and it’s so funny and I walked and knocked into this guy and I said “I’m really sorry” and it was him and he sorta looked at me and said “I’m really sorry, man” and it’s sorta funny because we start walking and we keep looking back, it’s just sorta funny, but his hair is much lighter isn’t it? Yeah, no, it’s a compliment, so thank you.
So, obviously everyone would love to be compared to Ryan Gosling, but does this mean that Gosling has started to inspire hairstylists to mimic his style? Not only hot, but a trendsetter too.
