Evanie Frausto has never played it safe, even when he’s in the spotlight. “At the beginning of my career, I felt like I was putting myself out there a lot in terms of hairstyles that kind of push boundaries,” the hairstylist tells us, via a video call from Los Angeles. It’s the morning after the Grammy Awards, and he is fresh off styling an effortless, voluminous look for Sabrina Carpenter.
“I started falling more into the role of a traditional hairstylist in a way, which I do appreciate and I do love,” he says. Frausto grew up in a conservative Mexican immigrant community and found early solace in the unconventional and interesting side of emo internet culture of the early 2000s, on platforms like Myspace. “There was always that part of me that wanted to do something freaky and weird, and I have always seen hair as this almost material, almost like a fabric.” Enter Showpony – Frausto’s new fashion project, which will have its debut show at the tail end of the upcoming New York Fashion Week (February 16).
It comes as no surprise that one of the industry’s favourite hairstylists is venturing into fashion, given it’s shaping up to be a big year for wearable hair right now. Margot Robbie is wearing replica historical mourning jewellery on the red carpet for her Wuthering Heights press tour, while the couture shows in Paris last month gave us Victorian hairwork dresses by Ashi Studio as well as a wearable hair fashion show by hairstylist Charlie Le Mindu. That’s on top of designers like Simone Rocha, Schiaparelli and Margiela tapping into hair and fashion in 2024.
Frausto describes Showpony as a fantasy world, the opposite of the idea of wearability. Think: extreme, sculptural wigs transformed for the entire body. “In a way, it’s an unobtainable thing, which I admire,” he says. “The world is very dark right now, and I wanted to create a world where these beautiful creatures live.” The name was inspired by the ultra-tight, snatched ponytails which Frausto famously created for his client Bella Hadid, with a nod to the element of performance he hopes to bring to the project. “Showpony is an actual animal, but then at the same time it’s also a performative, extravagant thing,” he says.
The stylist was inspired to kickstart his project after seeing just how much hair he acquired in his Brooklyn studio, after various jobs, photoshoots and creative pursuits led to large snippings, panels and tresses being left behind. He thought, why not upcycle it to create wigs that rival garments – a new category that challenges the lines between clothing and hair? It started with his celebrity clients. The summer 2025 Rolling Stone cover where Sabrina Carpenter appears naked, save for Rapunzel-length tendrils draped over her front and back? It was actually a garment designed by Frausto. Rosalia’s Elle editorial with her extra-long lengths falling over her shoulders and growing out of her back? Another sort of wearable body wig; an early seed planted for Showpony.
“I wanted to expand on sculptures beyond being on top of someone’s head,” he adds. He worked on the collection for over a year, taking various leftover hair from his studio, accumulated over years. “Everything was in stock, sitting in the studio and being put to good use,” he says. “I liked this idea of making the garments look almost like fur,” he says. Jackets, gowns, boots: expect all things wearable and hairy, designed to feel like “a second skin,” according to Frausto. Leather components, like corsetry, are integrated into the pieces. “This sounds so stark, but it’s like if a human was skinned, like skin in hair – and it mashed into this new silhouette.”
A group of seamstresses collaborated with Frausto and his team for the occasion, bringing together traditional sewing techniques with his own unique, intentionally distorted vision. While Uberliss and Pravana provided the tools and hair colour to create the hair pieces. “We pushed things from the hairstylist’s point of view,” he says. Colour, cut and style all played vital roles in each look, shifting perception and aesthetic rapidly with each snip and clip.
Frauso sees Showpony as an experimental art project, designed to reimagine what he could do as a hairstylist. Rather than look to a singular theme for inspiration, Frausto focused on the body and the things he sees in his everyday life that others might find mundane. A telephone post that has staples and paint all over it, for example, was something he photographed and later referenced. “A lot of it was just inspired by the human form, and there was a lot of inspiration from surgical procedures, and a lot of animal inspirations, a bit of a mythical creature vibe as well. I need it to let out all these crazy ideas that just sit in my head in a loop,” he says with a laugh.
Wigs have always been an important art form, but maybe in 2026, they’ll finally get the artistic respect and space they deserve in hair and fashion. “A normalisation of hair in fashion is occurring, which is great for us,” Frausto adds. “Sometimes, if you work with a new talent or a new model or someone who’s never done a wig before, it feels very foreign to them. [But] I see it being utilised in all these other worlds now.”
