As of 31 August, 2019, British singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding is now married to New York-based art dealer Caspar Jopling. The big day, held at York Minster cathedral in the north-east of England, saw Goulding walk down the aisle in a custom-made dress by Chloé’s Natacha Ramsay-Levi, for a classic, timeless look.
Just days ahead of the wedding, Vogue caught up with celebrity hair stylist Ben Skervin, who styled Goulding’s platinum bridal up-do. Skervin is known for creating the perfect balance between natural and next-level hair, a favourite red-carpet stylist of A-listers including Saoirse Ronan, Rachel Weisz, Keira Knightley and Cara Delevingne.
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Fresh from the mid-week hair and makeup trial at Goulding’s apartment in London, Skervin told Vogue: “The brief was pretty simple. We wanted to keep it very natural, but very Ellie too.”
How did he make sure the hair suited the dress? “The neckline of her dress is very high, Victorian-esque you could say. So I felt it would be good to keep the hair up and out of the way, so you really appreciate the neckline. Plus, she is wearing a long veil that goes over her head and down to the floor,” he explained.
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While Goulding usually wears her hair long with a natural wave, the day-time bridal look saw a change, with all her hair taken up. For the evening, however it’s back to her signature style. “That’s what we’ll do in the evening,” said Skervin, of the loose look. “We talked about a half-up half-down [for during the day], especially because the [wedding dress] neckline is so beautiful and so high. But in the end, we settled on taking it all up – there is some intricate embroidery on the body of the dress that the hair could get caught in it. She was very open to it all.”
How to recreate Ellie Goulding’s wedding hair in 9 easy steps:
- Build up hair's texture and add body with Living Proof Full Thickening Mousse and Texture Mist. Spritz some Living Proof Full Root Lift spray at the roots to give the hair guts, volume and oomph.
- Blow-dry through with a big, round brush.
- Once the hair is dry, apply Hair by Sam McKnight Lazy Girl Dry Shampoo directly into the lengths of the hair.
- Take a curling iron (with an inch width) and create very loose waves throughout the whole body of the hair. This will loosen during the day.
- Use fingers to soften up the waves and lightly backcomb at the crown. This will give the hair a little Brigitte Bardot-esque height, and stop it from flattening later in the day.
- Loosely pull all the hair back to the middle of the head with fingers, and tie it with a long piece of elastic – using a single, long piece gives you more control and tension than a regular band. Once you’ve secured the hair into a ponytail, loop the elastic around in a figure-of-eight, and then pin into place. Tying it this way balances the hair and creates more shape.
- Twist the length of the hair loosely and wrap into a bun shape around the ponytail.
- Pull out a few pieces of hair so it falls around the forehead and face – for an un-done but also done aesthetic.
- Finally spray with L’Oreal Paris Elnett to finish.
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