Highlights from utopia alternative hair show 2017

Last night’s Alternative Hair Show, with the theme of Utopia, was an amazing night full of wacky and wonderful things like sky high hair masterpieces and even hair that moved by itself! Celebrating its 35^th year, the evening raised an impressive £280,626.00 for the charity Fighting Leukaemia. Set up by Toni and Maggie Rizzo after their son died from Leukemia, the sell-out show, with Wella as headline sponsor, annually attracts an audience from around the world. And now for the show run-down: After the opening presentation from Tony Rizzo and Anthony Mascolo, the winners from Wella’s International Trend Vision Award paraded the stage to rapturous applause fresh from their success at Saturday’s show.   Next we saw the spectacular entries for the International Visionary Awards showcased on stage. The winners were as follows: Cut and Colour - Lucian Busioe, Romania Men's - Chris O'Riordan, Ireland Avant Garde - Jose Garcia Benitez, Spain   And then it was on to the first section of shows: we saw Sebastian Artistic Team, Hugh Campbell, Cyrill Brune, Petra Mechurova and Saco. Stand-out performances included the fairytale-like Cyrill Brune who showcased textured styles interspersed with floral accessories and Saco with models sporting paint smeared on their faces and graphic cuts and colour. The second set of shows featured Bundy Bundy, Charlie Price, Anne Veck, Gogen and TIGI Creative Team. Highlights included the inter-galactic themed Bundy Bundy whose models strutted onto the stage with enhanced breasts, bottoms and hips to a soundtrack of “The Body has to be Perfect” and hair in hoops accessorised with string. And a mention must go to the gymnastic talents of Anne Veck’s dreadlocked gladiators who fought it out on stage to win the affections of a queen-like figure with pastel-hued candyfloss hair. Before the interval, eight-year-old Blue Tobin, who recently rang the bell at the Royal Marsden Hospital to commemorate 5 years free of Leukaemia, came on stage with his family. The audience was moved to tears as we heard the story of Blue, who was given a lifeline by a stem cell donor, thanks in part to donations from the charity. After the interval the AIPP Awards presentation saw Patrick Cameron presented with a Legend Award. Then the following awards were announced: Commercial award – Sanrizz, UK Avant garde award – Amparo, from Toni & Guy Spain Photo award - Mark Leeson, UK Video - Candice McKay, Wyatt Hairdressing, South Africa Men's - Jason Hall, UK The evening rounded up with a spectacular final two shows. The first set included Sassoon, Kohsuke Visual Network, Fehringer, Hob and Robert Cromeans. Stand out performances were Transformers-esque show from Fehringer complete with a giant robot and multi-coloured hair that actually moved at Robert Cromeans.   And to end the evening on a high, the final set of shows contained Klaus Peter Ochs, Alan Edwards, Dmitry Vinokurov, Carlo Bay and Sanrizz. Vinokurov showcased a theatrical combination of headdresses and giant plaits. Fighting Leukaemia trustee, Douglas Osbourne probably uttered the most profound words of the night when he said, “A world without Luekemia, what a Utopia that would be.” Photo credits: Alex Barron-Hough Visit here to find out more and donate to the Fighting Leukaemia Alternative Hair charitable foundation.