Tristan Walker founded Walker & Company with the goal of simplifying beauty for people of color; and when it comes to beauty, the barbershop is often a social and cultural hub within the African-American community. If you were to step into any shop, you’d immediately see a board or grid, next to the
mirror, that displays cut options for guys. This board of cuts can be considered a staple in classic barbershops, but has recently become basic shop décor; a departure from its intended use as an inspiration and guide for men’s grooming styles.With this in mind, Walker & Co.’s new video series, Bevel Classics, is simply a way to “re-engineer a classic,” taking the images from those paper grids and giving them dimension by providing background and commentary on their significance to the culture. The 6-part video series documents the most iconic cuts for African American men, focusing on re-envisioning the barbershop and documenting the history and experience of iconic hairstyles. These videos include notable barbers such as:
• Denny Moe: Barber to Keith Sweat, Bobby Brown, Eddie Murphy, Mike Tyson
• Faheem Alexander: Barber to The Roots, Brad Smith (Eagles)
• Jomo Kenyatta: Barber to Swiss Beats, Usher, Rae Kwon, Common, Charlie Wilson, Future, Donovan McNabb and Shepard Fairey
• Marshall Almeida: Head barber at BET for 25 years
• Marcus Harvey: Barber to Nas (investor in Bevel), Grant Hill, Chris Weber
[Below: Check out the introduction video]
Be sure to visit Bevel Code to view the entire series, and look out for more on Tristan Walker who will be featured as a BE Modern Man in the coming weeks: