THE SHEAR GENIUSES OF 'SCISSORHANDS' STYLE

By Susan Spillman

From USA Today, 12.13.1990, Final Edition

Shrubs snipped in the shapes of circus animals. Poodles with polka-dot-patterned haircuts.

The wild style of the new movie Edward Scissorhands--in more theaters Friday--is fascinating filmgoers.

Designer Bo Welch and director Tim Burton began with a model of the 37- house neighborhood seen in the whimsical comedy. Different paint colors were tried; the houses and shrubs Edward sculpts with his scissor hands were moved around to find the perfect look.

Welch "decreased the window sizes on each house to make the neighborhood appear more paranoid," he says.

In place of real shrubs, two dozen pieces of topiary--chicken wire frames and plastic greens shaped as dolphins, dancers and dinosaurs--were trucked to the Tampa, Fla., set.

In most scenes, Johnny Depp (playing Edward) wore shear-fingered hands made of rubber. But when he had to cut, metal blades were substituted. Viewers see him make a couple of real snips, then the film cuts to his finished creation.

Women whose hair was styled by Edward wore wigs--some sculpted into strange shapes with chicken wire "just like the topiaries," says stylist Yolanda Toussieng, who mixed her own heavy-duty hair spray.

Each style was customized. Toussieng photocopied actresses' portraits, whited out the hair, made more copies, then drew in new looks.

Most of the pooches that Edward styles belonged to locals.

"We thought, 'Who's going to let us give their dogs these haircuts?' " recalls assistant animal handler David Allsberry. But lots of folks stepped up to have their pets coiffed in zany styles--including a doughnut-patterned 'do and hair extensions.