Inside Adir Abergel's Funky Ecclectic Oasis Of A Closet

Adir Abergel is a visual artist before anything else—and his home, a funky, art-filled Los Angeles oasis with bohemian touches throughout, is an extension of that. A trained dancer and celebrity hairstylist, Abergel is inspired by beauty and aesthetics of all forms. Not in an overly indulgent or materialistic way, but in that he can appreciate the finer things in life while knowing that high price tags don't determine taste.

As creative director of haircare brand Virtue Labs, Abergel has worked with the likes of Jennifer Garner, Kristen Stewart, Nicole Kidman, Anne Hathaway, Tina Turner, and many more. With his celebrity clientele, he creates original, experimental, glamorous looks—from the perfect beach waves to sculptural updos— that leave clients looking and feeling their best.

Inside his eclectic closet filled with statement jackets, bold accessories, and an enviable rotation of fun jewelry, we caught up with Abergel about his mother being his style icon, the intersection of beauty and fashion, and laughing with Jennifer Garner behind the scenes.

What's your most extravagant fashion purchase, and was it worth it?

"It was definitely Rick Owens stuff back in the day. I did a lookbook for Rick around 30 years ago, before Rick was really Rick. He had a little shop on Hollywood Boulevard. He was with Michèle Lamy, who had this amazing restaurant-and-bar vibe we all went to, and he asked me to do his lookbook 30 years ago. I fell in love with Rick back when he used to make T-shirts."

Who or what has influenced your personal style the most?

"Definitely my mom. My mom was just so fucking cool. She could throw on a T-shirt and a pair of jeans, and the T-shirt would be torn and falling off one shoulder. She had a Shelly Duvall kind of haircut from The Shining, so it was just super awesome. We would stop at a supermarket, and she would buy box color, dye her hair red, wash it at the gas station, and suddenly be a redhead. She was just cool."

What are your favorite places to shop?

"There is an enormous flea market in Paris that I'm absolutely, absolutely obsessed with. Auctioneer is a website I absolutely love because you can find a lot of really rare things you don't see anywhere else. I've been really obsessed with Studio Nicholson in London recently—these are her jeans that I'm wearing right now. They're just so her. She's incredible because her whole line is super simple, so it works really well with my other pieces that feel a little more eccentric. It's a great mix, and her fabrics are just delicious."

How does your personal style relate to your approach to hair?

"They're both about celebrating individuality."

What's an on-set or red-carpet hair hack people should try at home?

"If you need texture in your hair, you run out of all products, and you want it to feel a little bit undone like old-school Adir used to do on Sienna Miller and Jessica Biel, you just take some water, two drops of oil, and some sea salt, shake it together, and spray it on your hair, and scrunch it. Let it dry, put a little bit of a wave in it, and you're going to have the sexiest texture you've ever had."

If you could raid anyone's closet, whose would it be?

"Michael Jackson, Prince, Cher, or Bob Mackey."

What's one thing that you always pack when you travel?

"I always pack Virtue Labs shampoo and conditioner. Because I travel all the time to different cities, when I don't have the right shampoo and conditioner for my hair, it's a bad day."

Who's the best dressed person you've ever worked with?

"That's too hard. Each person has their individual style, so for me, there is no best. I have seen people at the airport who I find incredibly inspiring. I'll go to London, sit on the street, and die over a young kid who's a skateboarder who put together the most amazing look. If you know yourself and your style, I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed with Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron, and Jen Garner and how she dresses for her everyday life. I'm also obsessed with Sienna Miller. I think a lot of people gravitate toward people they feel have a similar aesthetic. So if you dress in beautiful jeans and a simple shirt, you may be drawn to Carolyn Bessette's minimalist style."

You started your career as a dancer. Does that background still influence how you think about clothes and movement?

"I did classical ballet throughout my childhood until I was fifteen. I got injured and that's when I started doing hair. Dance teaches you amazing structure and how to hold your body. Clothes fall on the body in a certain way, and you move differently depending on what you put on. For me, clothes and how they drape are almost a reference to dance on my body. When I put on that trench coat, I immediately move very differently than when I put on a structured black jacket. So it's like it dances with me and kind of dictates how I need to move in it."

You're known for collecting visual references. Do you collect clothes and objects in the same way?

"Not at all. I've never seen a piece in a magazine and decided to go out and buy that piece. I always walk somewhere, browse, and either the piece speaks to me, or it doesn't.

Do the visual references that you collect inspire how you get dressed?

"No, they just inspire me and remind me that the world is creative and that there are endless ways of looking at something, and it's weird. I can look at this beautiful pencil drawing from the '70s and feel totally inspired by the body shape and the hairstyle. All of a sudden, that can inform so much other stuff that I'm feeling. If I looked at that and was thinking about that and then went shopping, maybe then I would look at stuff that's a little bit more structured. So I think subliminally, a lot of it affects the way that I kind of shop for clothes, but not necessarily how I wear them."

What's inspiring you right now?

"Humanity. I think that we're in a really rough time, with a lot of dictatorships around the world. I get to meet a lot of beautiful humans because I travel so much and I really am inspired by humanity and the collective of humanity, and by the belief that we're going to be okay. I believe that we all deserve the best because, financially, it's really divided in the world. Politics are really divided around the world. There's constant judgment against one another. And I think that's the beauty for me in what I do. I try to celebrate individual beauty, and I hope that the world can have less judgment and allow people to really be individuals because we all have a different thumbprint, which means we're all different."

You've created some iconic looks for Kristen Stewart. Has working with her changed the way you think about personal style?

"I think she's one of the most fearless humans that I have come across when it comes to self-expression. She inspires me deeply through the work I've done with her, and in the way she doesn't always conform to what makes people feel comfortable, because she knows who she is. I think that we both share that in our style: we are who we are. And in a way, that's the gift in life: finding who you are without constantly seeking other people's approval."