THIS is "Lady Gaga" BEFORE Lady Gaga.

Toni&Guy Hairdressing is 15 in Singapore (Little Gaga was nine in 1995) and celebrated the milestone with a runway show and free flow drinks at Zouk last week.

Or was it free flow tresses and runaway drinks, it's all so gone to the head...

From four stylists in 1995 in Pacific Plaza, they've grown to a family of 100 islandwide. Ten times that many, 1,000, turned up at the still-happening Zouk, to party and show support.

Did you know that Toni&Guy has worked with more than 40 fashion brands in Singapore, styled over 800 models and executed some 53,000 services? That's how you get ahead and stay ahead, excuse the puns.

Including styling Miss Germanotta's (Lady Gaga's) hair when she performed here last year. She was lovingly tended to by one of the keyT&Gstyle guys, Isaac Ng.

Zoukettes and Zoukers and Toni and guys and dolls were in full strength cramming the runway for the Project 10 Collection 10/11, an innovative show of strong cut and colour choices reflective of current lifestyle trends.

What you see is drawn from high fashion and street style - the pictures express more than we can in words.

Er, snowcone, batwings, curtains?

We've come a long way, baby, from the days of wash and set and tease in the neighbourhood Kim Novak hairdressing saloon.

These are hair-styled structures and take an age to produce.

First, you have to do the model's hair, then the hairpieces, then the crowning piece of artwork, in some headcases, even a spot of hairchitecture.

And then the model has to be able to balance her top knot on the catwalk, before an enthusiastic crowd, as if she goes down high street like that ona daily basis.

It's heavy, it's expensive, it's labour-intensive, it's a jaw-dropper showstopper.

Would you go out in it?

Said the Toni&Guy gal, "Not in this weather, surely? It'd be difficult to pull off."

This article was first published in The New Paper.