LAS VEGAS, NEVADA—The Professional Beauty Association (PBA) held the 27th annual North American Hairstyling Awards (NAHA), the most prestigious photographic beauty competition, on Sunday, July 24th at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas during PBA Beauty Week. Sophisticate’s Hairstyle Guide was once again proud to be a media partner and report on all our social media platforms during the event hosted by Tony award-winning actor Alan Cumming. Here, we present some of the winners of 2016’s NAHAs! Drum roll, please!

LONDON, ENGLAND—Hairdressers Journal International hosted 2016’s British Hairdressing Awards, sponsored by Schwarzkopf Professional, bringing glitz and glam out to celebrate a year of wonderful creative achievements. The event drew a crowd of 1700 of the worlds’ finest hairstylists, who gathered at London’s glamourous Grosvener House, a JW Marriott hotel, for one of Europe’s biggest industry shows.

With nine regional and six specialist categories, as well as the ultimate award, British Hairdresser of the Year, the awards have launched careers of some of the world’s most recognized talent like John Frieda, Nicky Clarke, Anthony Mascolo, Jamie Stevens and Andrew Barton to name a few.

This year’s ceremony was hosted by English comedian/actor David Walliams, along with Hairdressers Journal International’s executive director, Jayne Lewis-Orr.

Sophisticate’s Hairstyle Guide is pleased to present this exclusive behind-the-scenes look at our amazingly creative industry and some of the hairdressers’ work that helped them win their award! Cheers!

ORLANDO, FLORIDA—Bigger, smarter, prettier and better than ever are the words that best describe this year’s Premiere Orlando International Beauty Event! Continuing in the league of excellence, this years’ show, attended by thousands of professionals, kept us busy trying to cover all the fab events! From the Main Stage headlined by the most sought after leaders of the pro beauty industry to the Hair Color Stage featuring amazing colorists showcasing the latest trends to classrooms, workshops, competitions and a show floor that was buzzing with activity…we could hardly keep up! On this page we feature a peak into the world of beauty—behind the scenes! Our walk-away?

Led by Aveda’s Antoinette Beenders, the style trend show featured Stella McCartney’s effortless beautiful, British-inspired clothes as well as a live jazz band and other performers and entertainers. Beenders and the Aveda team did the mane looks shown here!

The 1940’s Pin-up was a feast for the eyes, taking us back to a time when ‘40s bombshells ruled. Aveda artist Sue Thompson did the inspired style, held in place with Aveda’s Air Control Light Hold Hair Spray. Tip? A deep side part!

The Back to Barber look was designed by Aveda artist Ricardo Dinis. “Their hair was a ‘suit’ look, inspired by the men of the 1940s,” the Artistic Director explained. Tip? Gel!

Model Undone by Aveda artist Antoinette Beenders was designed to bring out natural texture, while keeping the look simple and the focus on the fashion. Tip? Aveda Pure Abundance Style-Prep to get a perfectly undone look!

NEW YORK, NEW YORK This past October, members of Intercoiffure America/Canada (the most powerful and influential organization in the hair dressing industry) gathered at New York’s beautiful Waldorf-Astoria under the direction of President Frank Gambuzza. The Fall Atelier featured presentations from the ICA Artistic Director Van Council and other artists such as Tracey Hughes, Angus Mitchell, Sonya Dove and more! Platinum Sponsors were Wella Professionals, L’Oréal Professionnel, RevitaLash Cosmetics, Goldwell, Kerastase Paris and Artego. The Sunday Night Gala (and hairdressing show, seen on these pages) showcased some of the most beautiful looks in our industry today. We hope you enjoy this behind-the-scenes peek at the beauty that is hair…Intercoiffure America/Canada style!

Photos: courtesy Intercoiffure America/Canada.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK New York Fashion Week’s Spring/Summer 2017 collections were quite the melding of some of fashion’s most creatively inspiring people. But what we kept our eye on was the hair, and what looks and products hair designers were creating and using.

From Aveda’s Global Creative Director, Antoinette Beenders, who designed a ripple-hair look for Tome, to Scott Cunha for Matrix, who used the fab Style Link product line on celebrity fashion model Ireland Baldwin. Aveda Guest Artist Frank Rizzieri created a sleek look for the Tibi show, while L’Anza Healing Haircare runway stylist Jorge Luis went for more undone wet looks for the God Save Queens models.

Macadamia Professional lead stylist Eiji Yamane designed a perfectly Parisian look for the Zang Toi show. Jorge Luis, for L’Anza Healing Haircare, kept looks beautifully textured for the Urban Zen collection. Luis also was busy working the Michelle Helene collection, echoing a global vibe to complement fashions.

All in all, the looks were stunning and the fashions amazing.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS—This year’s larger-than-life America’s Beauty Show (ABS) by Cosmetologists Chicago—an association of 14,256 salon professionals—hosted 82,109 gate admissions including salon owners, cosmetologists, colorists, nail techs, barbers, estheticians, exhibitor persons, models and media in Chicago’s beautiful lakefront facility, McCormick Place, the largest such center in the United States! Featuring 410 exhibits (375 domestic and 35 foreign), we knew we were in for quite the few days just checking and reporting on all the wonderful new and exciting happenings in our industry!

Not one but two! Yes, there were two ABS runways that featured incomparable artists like Chrystofer Benson, Nicholas French, Guy Tang, Sam Villa and more industry icons whose work has appeared on the pages of Sophisticate’s Hairstyle Guide over the years. On Monday, several hundred haircolorists immersed themselves in the half-day ColorFEST 2017 event featuring major color companies and colorists who presented the new color trends for the pros to bring back to their salons for their color-loving customers!

Sophisticate’s Hairstyle Guide and sister publication Sophisticate’s Black Hair were two of the media sponsors for The Beauty Changes Lives Experience on Sunday evening, held at Chicago’s world-famous Art Institute in the Modern Wing. Matrix co-founders Arnold and Sydell Miller received the 2017 Legacy Award at the fundraising event that helps support NextGen talent. Attendees received beautiful product-filled gift bags enhanced by the current issue of Sophisticate’s!

“Listen. Support. Connect.” is the required Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault training class for Illinois cosmetology license renewals, and was taken by thousands of salon pros and owners. The class taught the pros how to recognize symptoms of DV/SA and how to provide resources for their clients. From the latest in hair/makeup/skin/nails to doing good in the community through the industry—we must say, this was one amazing beauty show we will never forget!

Photography by Jordan Chollette/Chollette Made, Paul Weltich/Courtesy America’s Beauty Show, Lora Wintz and Bonnie L. Krueger

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS—The 94th America’s Beauty Show (ABS) by Cosmetologists Chicago was one of the most amazing hair and beauty shows we’ve ever witnessed! From the moment we entered Chicago’s magnificent McCormick Place Convention Center and saw over 70,000 salon professionals, students and exhibitors buzzing with excitement, we knew we were in store for nothing but the best! The ABS Exhibit Hall boasted 400+ companies showcasing the most essential products for salons and their clients. ABS Nails Central was the place for nail techs to find their favorite brands they’ll be using in the year ahead. The ABS Barbers Gallery was a blast and rocked! We loved seeing all the amazingly groomed men and witnessing all that’s new for the boys! There were three runways, in conjunction with CosmoProf and SalonCentric, where icons of the industry presented hot new trends and education. The Beauty Changes Lives Experience, hosted by ABS and powered by Pivot Point, was a fab late-night affair featuring NextTGen industry artists’ interpretations of a Shout Your Beauty theme. Of course, there was much, much more: The Beauty Bash, The Jerry Gordon Salon Business Leadership Award, over 70+ education classes, ColorFest and so on and so on! We’re excited to present to you, our Sophisticate’s reader, these visuals on what our industry is all about and what you can look forward to at your salon—your personal sneak peek!

Photography by BABAK, Jordan Chollette, Lora M. Wintz and Bonnie L. Krueger

DATELINE: ORLANDO, FLORIDA Imagine all you can be! Wow! Little did we know when we were invited to the Matrix Destination experience what was in store for us! Over 2,000 beauty professionals attended this three-day inspirational event that brought together stars like Ashley Tisdale, Tabatha Coffey and other industry powerhouses! On opening night, Matrix artists lit the fuse with a world-class hair fashion production that Matrix VP and General Manager Paul Schiraldi said was designed to “light up the world with our imagination.” That it did, and for the next three days, the passion and creativity continued to burn brightly, from general sessions to hands-on classes, trending looks and learning about business building. Matrix, a leading professional haircolor and haircare company in the United States, left no doubt in our minds why they are so beloved by the industry, thanks to their commitment to the development of the salon professional, offering a progressive, creative, fun way to engage in the world of hair! On the last day we heard the salon pros all commenting on how much they loved being part of the Matrix family and hated to leave, but they parted with the tools and ideas to build their salons, delight their clients and reignite their creativity. That really says it all!

DATELINE: SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA Sit back in your chair and close your eyes. Picture the bluer-than-blue Pacific Ocean, a beach filled with an eclectic assortment of locals and tourists and a pier that is over 100 years old, featuring an iconic solar-powered Ferris wheel. Continue to fantasize and once you’re done beach-combing it’s time to do some fabulous shopping in the boutiques on the Third Street Promenade in Downtown Santa Monica. But wait—you’ll want to go back to your fab hotel room, change into a less casual wardrobe, make sure your makeup is classic and your hair is on point so when you stop in that cute little alfresco bistro, you’ll feel like the celebrity you are! Stop dreaming! It’s time to book that flight! Presenting the “La La Girls Day One” hair collection by Adam Ciaccia and Katie Sanchez, with styling by Nicole Dwight and photographed on location in Santa Monica by Jez Rozdarz. All for Axis Hair in Canberra, Australia.

Sophisticate’s Hairstyle Guide travels around the globe to bring you the beauty happenings and trends from all the hottest hair shows and events. Click on one of the photos below to join us…

New York Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2017

Intercoiffure America/Canada Presents The Fall Atelier 2016

Premiere Orlando International Beauty Event 2016

Aveda And Stella McCartney Pre-Fall Show 2016

Hooker & Young Blonde Me

British Hairdressing Awards 2016

America’s Beauty Show – 2017

North American Hairstyling Awards 2016 (NAHA)

Daytripping in Santa Monica, CA

America’s Beauty Show – 2016

Matrix Destination – 2016

Goldwell’s Global Zoom Challenge

33rd Alternative Hair Show – 2015

jcp salon Launch Party Celebration – 2015

Premiere Orlando International Beauty Event – 2015

America’s Beauty Show – 2015

International Beauty Show NY – 2015

International Salon And Spa Expo – 2015

32nd Alternative Hair Show – 2014

Chicago’s Mario Tricoci Celebration

jcp salon / Women Of America – 2014

DATELINE: LONDON, ENGLAND The 33rd Alternative Hair Show was held at the magnificent Royal Albert Hall in London this past autumn. The hairdressing teams participating—many of their model looks shown here—financed their own shows, completely showing their support for this event that raises money for research and education, to help find a cure for blood cancers, including leukemia. Alternative Hair Founder Tony Rizzo said, “There are no words I can find to thank these wonderful hairdressers. Their support and generosity never fails to make me feel both eternally grateful and humble.” This year’s show was entitled “Aurora” and featured inspirational aspects of dawn/dusk, glacial ice patterns and frozen landscapes woven into the themes and styling. The 2015 Alternative Hair Teams were Saco, Babicz, Rossa Fanagher, Anne Veck, Class, Mario Krankl, Paul Stafford, Gogen, E Salon, TIGI Creative Team, Kohsuke, Alan Edwards, Robert Cromeans, Fehringer, KPO, Laszlo Hajas, Dmitry Vinokurov, Carlo Bay and Sanrizz. Sophisticate’s Hairstyle Guide sends its highest regards to Mr. Rizzo and all the participants who helped raise over $315,000!

DATELINE: LAS VEGAS, NEVADA Over 2500 hairdressers from the world over came together to celebrate the artistic Global Zoom Event. Goldwell and KMS invited stylists to the Global Zoom Event to experience the excitement of inspiration artist sessions, and extraordinary gala show, amazing parties and the world premiere of Goldwell’s Color Zoom 2016 Collection. Sophisticate’s Hairstyle Guide is proud to present just a few of the highlights from the extravaganza, which culminated in the new D!srupt Collection—an inspiring hair fashion collection that breaks with the conventional and invites stylists to challenge conventional style ideas. To create the look for this trend, the Goldwell team disrupted the shape, the color and the texture of hair. Sheer perfection!

Collection photography by Markus Jans.

DATELINE: JCPENNEY CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS, PLANO, TEXAS Sure it was August, but we were so excited to hop on a plane and head to Plano, TX, to visit our friends at the JCPenney Salon Division for a full day immersed in all that is hair. From the fabulous technical training seminars to a state-of-the-industry convo to a gala event in the evening—the energy and enthusiasm was infectious. The gala event was held in the stunning Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in downtown Dallas. Upon our arrival in the beautiful venue, we were greeted by smiling faces, wonderful wait staff passing the most fabulous appetizers ever (Beef Wellington? You bet!) and lively conversations. Next up was the beautiful The Salon by InStyle Inside JCPenney launch lead by jcp salon Artistic Director Nick Stenson. First a fab custom rap featuring a super-talented duo and a parade of models rocking the looks for 2016 available at all jcp salons! Hair superstars like Matrix’s Chrystofer Benson, Redken’s Sam Villa and Wella’s Sonya Dove all added to the beautiful hair design work showcased. Sophisticate’s Hairstyle Guide was proud to be part of the amazing celebration. And now…we must book that appointment at jcp salon!

DATELINE: ORLANDO, FLORIDA This year’s Premiere Orlando International Beauty Event at the Orange County Convention Center was one of our industry’s most important shows, and Sophisticate’s Hairstyle Guide was there in full glory! From the Mainstage featuring some of the industry’s biggest names showcasing trends, styles and fashions to the Hair Color Stage which spotlighted the newest looks in color and education—this show was not to be missed! Premiere also had hundreds of classes for the professional Premiere DAYSPA, featuring the very latest spa offerings as well as classes to educate. The exhibit floor held beauty companies (large and small) and a wonderful section called Nail World that allowed us to see the latest trends in the mani-pedi industry. On this page we feature a glimpse into professional beauty scene—your VIP pass!

Photography by Vibrant Media Productions.

DATELINE: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS This year’s America’s Beauty Show, held in Chicago’s stellar lakefront facility McCormick Place, was an amazing extravaganza of more than 65,000 salon pros and owners, students, teachers, educators, models, distributers and manufacturers. Sophisticate’s Hairstyle Guide’s cool kids were on hand to witness and report on the fabulousness of the trade show floor that featured runways, product showcases, celebrities and more! Owned and produced by Cosmetologists Chicago, the 103-years-young indie association with more than 10,000 beauty industry pros and student members, this year’s America’s Beauty Show broke all records. And, I am personally proud to note that Sophisticate’s Hairstyle Guide is the only consumer magazine to ever report, every year, on this trade-invited-only event. We hope you enjoy some of the images we have captured to bring you a bit of scene at this high-fashion event. Fierce!

Photography by Jordan Cholette, Babak and Lora Wintz.

DATELINE: NEW YORK, NEW YORK This past March more than 63,000 salon owners and beauty professionals eager to build their careers and increase profits converged on New York City for one of the biggest events in beauty, the International Beauty Show—New York (IBSNY). 2015 marked an introduction to new educational tracks such as Color, Men and Product Focused. Also, hundreds participated in exclusive Master Classes and in-depth, Hands-On Workshops. IBSNY 2015 was also home to thousands of industry-leading products and exciting competitions such as Major League Barber, Lash Wars and Global Beauty Masters. Lots of teasing, spraying, cutting, coloring and more…for three glorious days. Here, Sophisticate’s Hairstyle Guide shares some of the images from the show floor—enjoy your walk through!

Photography by John Ricard.

DATELINE: LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA This past January one of the largest and most inspired beauty events was held and attended by nearly 43,500 beauty professionals. Produced by the Professional Beauty Association, the 2015 International Salon and Spa Expo Long Beach evolved beyond hair into a complete beauty event for pro hair, nails, cosmetics, esthetics, wellness, massage and advanced education. This year’s show featured more than 379 exhibiting companies promoting 420 beauty brands! Names like MATRIX, OPI Products, Sexy Hair Concepts and Vidal Sassoon (to name a few!) were represented. From a blogger café to The Nail Spot and Cut, Color & Style Stage to a Sally Beauty Bus, Barber Brawl Competitions, Hairstyling Competitions and more… this show was a complete package. The North American Hairstyling Awards stage was the icing on the cake. Here is a visual tour for you—to witness our amazing industry and how it all starts.

DATELINE: LONDON, ENGLAND Sunday, October 12th was the date the Alternative Hair held its 32nd extravaganza! The charity stage show was themed Equilibrium and was held at the historical Royal Albert Hall in London. The legendary event lived up to all expectations with an outstanding evening of inspirational creativity and fundraising in support of the cause—fighting leukemia. We’re proud to say Sophisticate’s Hairstyle Guide was one of the media sponsors for the event, which featured fabulous presentations by 20 individual international hairdressing teams. The amount of monies raised was an impressive $351,000 for the Alternative Hair Charitable Foundation, increasing the total funding since its inception to in excess of $14.9 million! Founder of Alternative Hair, Tony Rizzo, and Worldwide President of Alternative Hair, Anthony Mascolo, welcomed the audience, enjoyed the artistic show and presented monies raised to special guests, six-year-old Blue Tobin and 12-year-old Lucas Sutheren—both showing how leukemia can be fought and defeated. Applause for this amazing event—hairdressers doing good!

DATELINE: CHICAGO, IL Chicago’s highly successful husband and wife team of Mario Tricoci and Cheryl Tricoci celebrated the grand re-opening of their salon and day spa at 900 North Michigan Avenue, in the heart of Chicago’s tony Gold Coast neighborhood. Mr. Tricoci started in the beauty industry as an apprentice in a barbershop in his hometown of Cosenza, Italy, and the rest is history. From salons to schools, the Tricocis have come a long way. The grand re-opening (the salon at 900 is celebrating its 15th anniversary!) of the newly imagined salon speaks to the dedication of this powerful couple and was an event we were so excited to cover! The salon and day spa looks stunning and the freshened-up vibe is buzzing with beauty. From great mani/pedi services to fabulous cut/styling/color to a spa menu with services that will make you feel totally recharged and beautiful…this is a place you must check out! Sophisticate’s Hairstyle Guide wishes them continued success! Applause, applause to this very hard-working, loving couple.

DATELINE: JCPENNEY CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS, PLANO, TEXAS Sophisticate’s Hairstyle Guide was so happy to be invited to the corporate offices of JCPenney for a day of style! First it was an early morning greeting by Mr. Nick Stenson, Senior Artistic Creative Director, who was joined joined by jcp salon’s hair pros from across the country. Next it was on to a presentation about jcp salon and all the fab and wonderfully exciting things we can look forward to in 2014. Then, as part of the MATRIX ColorInsider partnership, there was a walk through some MATRIX ColorInsider technical training followed by the fun part—color makeovers on a room full of lucky women (by jcp salon’s top team of pros). The results were stunning and will be featured in an upcoming issue! Next it was on to an evening event called “Women Across America” where models showcased Mr. Stenson’s new salon collection while wearing fashions available at JCPenney stores. If you’ve not checked out JCP recently—you must! The salon services are amazing and the fashions totally lovely, as you can see from the glimpse on this page. We’re excited!!!

Photos by Eric Priddy.