London-based Faith-Melody Ramautar (@faiththedesigner) has built a following as an “award-winning hair sculpture and wig artist”. Her elaborate creations literally crown the head; as Glamour UK observes, Faith builds “ornate sculptures as she believes ‘our hair is our crown”. A South London native of Jamaican and Indian heritage, she studied Fashion Jewellery at the London College of Fashion, bringing a sculptor’s eye to hairstyling. In Faith’s hands, braids and weaves become art installations that reconcile ancestral motifs with ultra-modern style.
Faith’s journey sprang from childhood creativity and family craft. She spent hours braiding her own hair and watching her mother create figures at Madame Tussauds; memories that she calls “a culmination of… braiding her hair as a child”. In fashion school she refined these instincts, translating the storytelling tradition of her Jamaican and Indian roots into wearable art. As Awaken Genius notes, Faith grew up in “a culturally rich household” and later fused that heritage into her designs. In her work she blends “bold textures, symbolic patterns, and spiritual elements” from Caribbean and Indian traditions, literally wearing her family history on her head. In short, Faith’s style “reconcile ancestral traditions with modern forms of expression”, giving her brand of braids and crowns an unmistakably cultural depth.
For Faith, hair is never “just” an accessory, it’s identity and pride. She points out that in Black and diasporic cultures hair is traditionally “your pride and glory; your crown”. Her sculptures reclaim that ancestral crown. Faith herself says bluntly: “Hair is political. Always political.” By this she means that Black women have long felt pressured to hide their natural hair; her work rejects that pressure and reignites hair’s storytelling power. Indeed, Faith explicitly draws on diaspora aesthetics. GUAP Magazine notes that her designs are even “inspired by traditional West African hairstyles,” blending heritage and modernity. In practice this means towering braids, coiled braids, and wraparound structures that recall African, Caribbean and South Asian headwear. As one award jury put it, Faith’s art transforms hair “into living pieces of cultural storytelling”, fitting tribute to the histories stitched and braided into each strand.
Faith-Melody’s inventive work has drawn media and industry attention. In 2019 Good Morning America ran a feature on her, marveling that “this stylist uses upward of 75 bobby pins to create her hair sculptures”. She has since styled hair for major events; everything from London Fashion Week to the Brit Awards and even collaborated on campaigns with brands like Urban Outfitters. Her images have appeared in fashion editorials (for example, Crack magazine) and on red carpets, turning heads online and off. In 2025 she earned formal recognition at the GUAP Awards: Faith was named “Best in Glam,” lauded for designs that are “elegant, powerful, and timeless” and that fuse cultural influence with avant-garde art. With every competition and feature, she is cementing her reputation as a leading figure in hair artistry.
Beyond prizes, Faith-Melody is shifting how people think about beauty and hair. She explicitly aims to highlight the beauty of Black hair and expand the imagination of what styles you can experiment with. In her mind, each sculpture is a statement against narrow beauty norms, as she puts it, her mantra is “my gift is making room for me.” By this she means she is carving out space for herself and for others to embrace bold, natural Black hairstyles. The visual impact is striking: see her pieces of wax, cowrie shells or fabric-integrated hair that rise like crowns or spiral upward, and it’s clear she’s making hair into high fashion. Through her widely-shared photos and collaborations, Faith encourages a new generation to wear their hair proudly as “my skin, my crown,” honouring the legacy of those before them. In doing so, she’s not just creating art, she’s inspiring a cultural movement, one braid at a time.