For a hair stylist, building a durable kit can be something of an art form: assembling a collection of products with time-tested benefits and tools that ooze efficiency, all while considering the specific demands of clients and editorial shoots. It takes patience and a certain eye for multi-purposing products. In our What's In My Kit series, we snoop inside the toolboxes of the beauty industry's biggest names.

Here, hair stylist Odile Gilbert opens up her bag for us behind the scenes at the hair test with Kérastase Paris for a runway show. Plus, we take a look back at some of Odile's most memorable runway works. Click through to see what's inside!

Photos by: Ana Schecter

What you will always find backstage at Odile's station: irons, brushes, Kérastase products and inspiration images. "And hands and brain!" she adds, laughing. 

A hairstylist never leaves home without a lifetime supply of bobby pins. Odile organizes hers based on color and size. 

Odile uses brushes from Japan. Why? "Because they are the best," she says. "You can do anything with them." But, she says, the most important brush is a Mason Pearson (pictured). 

"It's all Kérastase, Kérastase, Kérastase," says Odile of the products inside her kit. "We have every product for every kind of texture that we want. We have gel, hairspray, dry shampoo, conditioner, shampoo — it goes through the whole line of products that we need."

Kérastase Forme Fatale, $35

Kérastase Laque Dentelle, $35

Kérastase Boucles d'Art, $36

"I carry everything because you never know what you're going to use."

Kérastase Forme Fatale, $35 

Odile's kit is packed with extensions in every color she could possibly need. You never know what kind of hair you're going to work on backstage, so stylists need the option of adding lenth or volume at any given moment. 

"We use Patagonia bags because it's a strong bag," she said. "It's for trekking." 

Odile asked our photographer to take shots of her hands along with her must-have products. They are her most precious tool, obviously. 

This edgy, beachy style is the eventual result of the Suno hair test where we caught up with Odile. The look featured a deep middle part, brushed-out curls and a "hair headband." Odile took front sections of the hair and pulled them back over the ears. She tied them underneath at the nape of the neck with an elastic. 

For this show, Odile prepared real-hair wigs for 40 models, each with a custom color tailored to the specific look, complexion and eye color. She trimmed them to fit backstage. 

This memorable look was Grace Kelly chic meets '90s punk. Odile twisted hair into different pieces, interweaving with black feathers. Hair was secured by bobby pins. 

Odile created faux bobs and accessorized the hair with rows of gold bobby pins, elevating a mundane tool to something luxe, taking something utilitarian from basic to brilliant.