Kevin Murphy

An Australian session hairstylist who worked backstage at Paris fashion weeks through the 1990s launched his own hair care line in 2004 aimed at the working stylists he socialised with. He priced and packaged the brand to look and weigh like skincare. Kevin Murphy had spent two decades session styling for Vogue and major fashion houses out of Sydney and Paris when he founded his eponymous line in 2004. The formulations borrowed from skincare rather than hair care chemistry. The bottles were designed to resemble prestige skincare with weighted plastic white and tan colour blocking and minimal typography instead of the loud graphics typical of professional hair care packaging. The skincare coded packaging was an intentional mismatch with the sales channel. The brand was distributed exclusively through salons, not retail, which kept the professional credibility.