A celebrity hairstylist combs over the ensemble hit musical.
The Plot
Race and size wars erupt when plus-sized teen Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky) shimmies and shakes her way onto a popular Baltimore TV dance show. The reigning blond bimbette (Brittany Snow) and her calculating mom (Michelle Pfeiffer) strive to crush Tracy's popularity and her attempts at racially integrating the show and the city.
Our Insider
Patrick Melville tames the tresses of stars like Halle Berry, Heidi Klum, Mischa Barton and Nicole Richie. A former British boxer, Melville sharpened his shears at New York's Pipino Buccheri and Warren-Tricomi salons. Earlier this month, he opened the Patrick Melville Salon at the Sports Club/LA at Rockefeller Center.
--Overview "I thought it was great. The hair was just so over-the-top, coiffed and hairsprayed. It's sheer fantasy! The 1960s were probably one of the most memorable times in fashion. Women tried to be perfect. With their hair, nothing could be out of place ... and the bigger, the better."
--Colorblind "I love the scene where Tracy [is sent to detention and] integrates with a bunch of black students. She just starts dancing with them -- it's so cool. There were a lot of racial problems in America at the time, and this generation brought huge change. I grew up in Manchester, England, which was a depressed industrial city. There was a lot of ignorance. You were told, 'Don't mix with those people.' I first met [black] and Hispanic people because I started boxing at an early age, and there were many in the sport. I got to know them, and they were loving, great people -- friends who would stand by me, no matter what."
-- Weighty issues "Tracy was ridiculed and put down for being fat, and it's no different today. It's sad. We are very visual, and people judge you on your appearance. Everyone wants to be skinny, but you have to learn to live within yourself. If you've got a full face and big body, there are hair tips that can help. For instance, you can try more movement to the hair, a little more texture. You want to keep some softness to the face so you don't accentuate the roundness. The bob is the worst thing if you have a really full face. You don't want to bring it right to the jaw line and accentuate the roundness of your face."
-- Helmet heads "Everyone in that movie had the same hair. And it wasn't hairspray; it was lacquer then, a very hard form of hairspray. You could probably finish your furniture with it. My mom used to buy it in the gallon jug. She would put a scarf over her face, and I would have to spray her hair with this little plastic squeegee thing because we had no aerosol then. That hair was like a rock, like liquid shellac." -- Rebecca Louie
