HBO’s Industry character Harper Stern has quite a bit occurring. From insider buying and selling to launching her personal hedge fund, Harper’s journey by way of the world of funding banking has been a tumultuous one, to say the least.
As is the case for a lot of Black girls working in company (although Harper is really on a journey all her personal), her hair displays the assorted levels of her profession. From getting fired for mendacity about having a school diploma (amongst different issues) to having her personal firm, our favourite flawed character’s hair has elevated consistent with her profession developments.
When we first meet Harper (Myha’la), her hair was styled in worn-in braids, a low-commitment model that’s reliable and their overgrown state signifies her uncompromising nature as she is so locked in to not solely surviving however dominating the cut-throat white, male-dominated business. She didn’t have the time or presumably the need to spend additional time getting her hair finished. Also, given her humble starter pay grade, she was much less inclined to shell out the coin wanted to maintain up along with her hair.
In Season 2, Harper shifts from grown-out braids to her pure hair, which isn’t matted however noticeably easy. With her hair pulled again and away from her face, viewers get a greater look into the “naked” roots of Harper’s mentality and the main focus required for her to not simply excel at her job but in addition sustain with the online of lies from which her profession spawned.
It’s by no means ‘simply hair’
Conversely, when she’s hanging out along with her mates or simply chilling at dwelling, she actually and metaphorically lets her hair down, and we get to see full-fro Harper in all her pure glory.
Fast ahead to Season 4, and Harper is almost certainly in the next tax bracket, and her tremendous neat and contemporary human hair knotless braids mirror as a lot.
None of this was a coincidence: All of Harper hair selections have been deliberate renderings contemplated on and executed by My’hala.
The energy of intentionality
So, what did that imply for Harper’s hair, chances are you’ll ask? “I used to be like, properly clearly it’s gotta be the micro braids with the human hair,” Herrold mentioned throughout an episode of The Run-Through with Vogue. “It’s gotta be the costliest, in all probability probably the most high-maintenance… and probably the most elevated model of Harper.” According to Herrold, Season 4 Harper is in her “wealthy lady period.”
This transition, which to the untrained eye would possibly seem to be a superficial shift, is the lived actuality of many Black girls whose hair mirrors their journey by way of the skilled sector. To see even the extra nuanced subtitles of the character of Harper being dealt with with such care is a testomony to the ability of collaborative settings in movie and TV. Because in spite of everything, it’s by no means simply hair.