Ion Studio in Manhattan’s SoHo district is minimalist and unassuming in its design—you’d never guess that it’s the home base for several of the fashion industry’s biggest tress masters. “We have 60 years of experience between the three of us!” laughs Pasquale Ferrante, who owns the hair salon with fellow stylists Leonardo Manetti and Marco Santini. Ferrante is the lead for Coventry’s Fashion Week debut next week and has invited us to sit in as he unveils his coif creation to designer Matthew Terry.

While Terry busily knits a bustier for his fall 2009 collection, Ferrante whips us up quite possibly the best cup of coffee ever. As he pours, he chats about the style he’ll be creating today. “There are a lot of high necks and collar details in the collection, so I wanted to keep the hair up,” says Ferrante. “I see her as a Scottish warrior—the hair is tough and textured yet soft and loose around the edges of the face.”

As Ferrante twists intricate fishtail braids on each side of the model’s head, Terry sets down his knitting needles and becomes animated in sharing the inspiration for his collection. “I downloaded the video ‘Here Comes the Rain Again’ by Annie Lennox and Eurythmics—it has a very dark mood, and it feels modern yet also kind of historicized,” says Terry. Similar to the video, Terry says the Scottish wools and weather-faded colors lend an authenticity to a line that’s punctuated by modern technical fabrics and seamless WholeGarment knits.

“This will be my first time seeing the final hairstyle, but Pasquale and I already had a couple meetings—I’d sent some inspiration terms over and Pasquale did a hair test the other day by himself,” says Terry. “In the beginning, we were just looking at some quick digital photos, but today we’re confirming the overall mood.”

Upon completing each braid and roughing them up accordingly, Ferrante crisscrossed the twists, studiously analyzing as he pinned them to the head. “It’s messy, but it’s still controlled,” he says of the style.