Best Salon in Sydney!
WOW, We went one better than last year, and I have to say that I was completely speechless- well almost.
The City of Sydney Business Awards were held at the Sheraton on the
Park, and what a night. We were sitting with friends who were also nominated in our category- the owners of Suki, Sandy and her great husband , the lovely Bretts and Leonard who owns Desmond and Molly Jones, and Jasmin his lovely wife . It was an honor to be nominated and to be in such great company.
For us to win a business award is amazing and considering we have not made the two year mark even more incredible! I would like to thank all our clients who voted for us, and special thanks goes to the Stevie English team. I went and collected the award but its my team that won this, we have a lovely team who work together amazingly and I feel so lucky.
I never realised that success could be so much fun!
London and NY Style
I have just returned from a whirlwind visit to London and New York. I was lucky enough to be in London while Fashion Week was on, and just missed New York Fashion Week. But there was a lot to see, style and hair-wise, in both cities.
I'll start with London. The general street style in London is so eclectic and edgy that it's almost impossible to generalise. I saw some fantastic creative fashion during my short time there, and the hair is equally creative. The undercut, disconnected looks that are seen on celebs like Rihanna and Ruby Rose are big in London, as well as a newer trend for volume. On the catwalks during Fashion week, there were a lot of designers showing models with big, messy, backcombed hair. Long gone is the dead-straight, ironed-to-death hair. Volume is BACK which we know but in a serious styled down way, Kevin.Murphy has been leading the way.
I also noticed some punters working a combination of the two major trends- undercut and volume. A MAC makeup artist, who I didn't get a chance to photograph, had a brilliant afro with shaved sides. She looked absolutely amazing, and it was my favourite look from the whole trip.
I just missed New York Fashion week, but spent some time with a Bumble and bumble stylist who was still in town- John Ruggiero. New York is a buzz of energy and although John is based in L.A. he took time to show me some cool hair and how Bumble and bumble work.
I'm not sure what i was expecting from New York, what I got was a great city, loads of people and a real mix of cultures,and some interesting fashion. I was supposed to meet up with Vivienne MacKinder who has just been inducted to the American Hall of Fame but our schedules didn't quite match up. Hopefully I can interview her later in the year for prohairstylist .
Having spent time around London Fashion Week and then coming to New York I was expecting a similar fashion, but I left in love with New York but not with its fashion and hair.It was a little conservative for my taste and nothing really blew me away in the street, which was in contrast to London. I went all over NYC- Upper East Side, West Village, Greenwich Village, East Village, Lower East Side, Midtown, Brooklyn, everywhere! The style there is just not quite as edgy and cool as London. Don't get me wrong, everybody looks great, and there are millions of models in the city, but it just didn't set me on fire creatively. I guess I'll just have to go back to New York and have a closer look- any excuse to return is good enough for me! I <3 NY!
American Crew Shoot 09
We had another crazy day on Sunday shooting. We are just getting our shots ready for American crew. American crew is a preppy black and white shoot, which sits really well for the boys. We have quite a large male clientele and its great to shoot boys for inspiration
Watching Other Hairdressers Work
Last week I was lucky enough to be asked to fly to Melbourne to watch Chumba Concept Salons shoot with the rockstar photographer Andrew O’Toole. I arrived at the Ozdare Academy bright and early to meet Karl Keeley, artistic director for Chumba, and his talented team. They were: Belinda, Karl’s wife and a great colourist, Tanya, Marcus, Peter and Kate. And I was down in Melbourne to cover it for prohairstylist.
These guys are so amazingly prepared and organised, and it was a real pleasure to see their creative process from start to finish. It also made me realise how disorganised I can be, and how much smoother a shoot goes with proper preparation. Good storyboards and delegation makes all the difference. And don’t get me started on the technical skills- I watched Belinda colouring a model’s hair and was so impressed by her placement and toning ability.
Unless you have been living in Antarctica for the past 10 years, you have probably heard of Andrew O’Toole. He shoots a lot of hairdressing collections, from the UK to Australia. He definitely looks the part of the superstar photographer, but when I met him he was lovely. His team work really efficiently setting up lighting and it’s easy to see why he’s the best.
The magic happens on shoots when all the elements some together, and on this job it definitely did. Carls’ team did a beautiful job on the hair, Letitia Dare is an amazing stylist, Kylie O’Toole’s makeup was spectacular and the man Andrew behind the camera doing his thing- it was organised, but there was a great frenetic energy in the studio. I thing the secret is creativity and preparation, and the results were stunning!
Big thanks to the Chumba team for having me, to Andrew and Kylie O’Toole for chatting with me and giving me some great insights into their success. Can’t wait to see the final shots during the awards season this year!
Damn im lucky!
How We Keep The Stevie English Team Inspired
On a windy Monday night, the Stevie English team headed to Slide bar in Darlinghurst, to see the latest creations from the Rokk Ebony team, who are Melbourne based.
We saw some amazing colour work, a cool undercut style and both these demonstrations sparked some inspiration for the team and refreshed ideas for our clients. The guys also showed us some different upstyle techniques and talked a lot about the culture within their salon.
The following night, the first day of spring, the team and I rocked across town to the new Muse salon, where we were completely blown away by the talent of Phillip Barwick,who is the artistic director for Redken and also a great friend. And he is PASSIONATE about hair so it was inspiring to be around him and hear him preach cutting. I pre-coloured a model, and Phillip just got in and just showed a huge array of cutting skills and the whole team were blown away. It's so great to spend time with other hairdressers to see how they do things, and to share all our knowledge with the next generation of stylists.
Final Shots for Isson Campaign
When you see this shot in magazines just know that it was done from one of the talented team at Stevie English Hair, Verity.
She could be your hairdresser!
This campaign is going in the following mags for starters
- Curve
- Harpers Bazaar
- Grazia
- Marie Claire
- Vogue
- Instyle
- Cleo
- Russh
- Fashion Journal
FINALIST City of Sydney Business Awards. AGAIN!
Wow we have done it again, Stevie English Hair is a finalist in the City of Sydney Business Awards. Thank you to our lovely loyal clients and friends who voted for us!
We are thrilled, this is our second year as finalist and hopefully we can go on and do one better than last year.
Stevie English Hair does City2Surf
City to surf is the largest fun run in the world. And some of the team from Stevie English Hair were mad enough to run it with Wiggs
Fashion Trends and Stevie English Hair
This is the link to the editorial shoot Verity just finished
http://www.fashionising.com/pictures/b--Siberia-2020-FASHIONTREND-Magazine-Issue-16-2015.html
Some really cool hair
City of Sydney Business Awards
It's that time of the year again. Last year we were surprised to be nominated in the City of Sydney Business Awards, and this year it has happened again. We would love to make the finals and get a chance to impress the judges, so please give us a hand and vote for us! You can vote via SMS or on the web.
online vote here Sms : Stevie 0407877677
Also, our wonderfully talented designers, Afficionados of the Nod, are also up for a prize. they are the geniuses (geniuii?!?) responsible for the wallpaper, fabric and interior design of the entire salon including our awesome logo. They are unbelievable. So while you're on the Awards website, could you give them a little vote too.
online vote here sms THENOD 0407877677
check out there website
Finally, our accountant Anna from AKA Group is nominated too! She is the best accountant in Sydney by a long shot, we would be bankrupt without her! So please show Anna some voting love!
online vote here sms akagrp 0437877677
check out there website
Isson Look book
Verity has just been out the shop doing the look book for Isson, she came up with the whole look, cutting and colouring wigs.
Twitter Tuesday Trim again
Everybody loves a bargain, right?
Ever heard of Tight@*s Tuesday? We are introducing our own bargain day-the last Tuesday of every month. We will call it #twittertuestrim and it will be a special offer for all Twitter followers of @stevieenglish @mellalicious @littlemumma @zoe_king . 20% at Stevie English Hair, just mention #twittertuestrim and book on the last Tuesday of the month. Deal.
Its such a great deal I'm posting it twice.
Fashion Trend
We are in the business of creating trends here at the English. Verity is leading the way. Here is a shoot that just got published in Fashion Trend.
Twitter tuesday Trim
Everybody loves a bargain, right?
Ever heard of Tight@*s Tuesday? We are introducing our own bargain day-the last Tuesday of every month. We will call it #twittertuestrim and it will be a special offer for all Twitter followers of @stevieenglish @mellalicious @littlemumma @zoe_king . 20% at Stevie English Hair, just mention #twittertuestrim and book on the last Tuesday of the month. Deal.
Barbie Awards
Jade and Georgie did the hair for the Barbie Awards it was a great night lots of cool dancers and some fun hair
Hair Training With David Glover
Last week was another great one, and probably the highlight was having David Glover in the salon. David is one of the best session stylists in the world, he was crowned Austalian Session Stylist of the Year in 2007 and I recently interviewed him for Prohairstylist . So it was very nice of him to come into our little shop and impart some of his wisdom, styling tricks and how to use Kevin Murphy products- his way . He is Kevin.Murphy's golden boy, whilst you will notice this months Australian Vogue front cover hair is done by Kevin Murphy. David is doing the same in the states for the Kevin Murphy brand. He is head of education in the states and is styling in some of the biggest American mags going, as well teaching the yanks how to work hair the Australian way!
David showed us some great tips on how to put hair up quickly, things that would normally take up to 2 hours- he got it done in 10 mins, not including prep time. Pretty amazing,and it gives us better skills in styling hair and doing it quickly which is really good for us and you who come into the salon .
Would like to thank David for coming into the salon, all the team were talking about it all day and have been practising his very useful tips all week. So thank you David, you are a real talent.