Legends – the 2012 Alternative Hair Show!

A memorable event! Boundless fantasy, living legends from the hairdressing world on stage, plus shows, awards and the AIPP ceremony.
Thirty years old and still looking good! The Alternative Hair Show recently celebrated its big 3 – 0 in London along with 5,500 hairdresser guests. Every year, the AH invites a star-studded roster of international hairdressing on stage firstly to entice emerging hairdressers of tomorrow with the Visionary Award, and secondly to raise money for Leukaemia and Lymphoma research. This year’s event was yet another in a long line of successes, with 193,000 pounds raised for the “Fighting Leukaemia” association (bringing the grand total of the last thirty years to almost nine million pounds).
And this celebratory event certainly delivered – with the anybody who was anybody turning up at the Royal Albert Hall to celebrate! Neither was it a coincidence that the 2012 edition was entitled “Legends”, by express wish of Tony Rizzo, founder and presenter of the event, along with Anthony Mascolo, the AH president. Some true hairdressing legends were on stage, to thunderous applause and standing ovations – John Frieda, Trevor Sorbie, Andrew Collinge, Lluis Llongueras, Daniel Galvin, Mark Hayes, Anthony and Pat Mascolo and Robert and Kay Lobetta, Wiel and Ell Essers, Fernando Romero, Andrew Collinge, Kohsuke Ueno, Klaus Peter Ochs and Clive Colman. Guest of honour was Vidal Sassoon’s son, Elan (who arrived with his wife Adriana) and daughter Eden to receive a tribute award on behalf of their late father from Tony Rizzo himself.
Then it was time for the long-awaited Awards, beginning with the grand finale of the International Visionary Award. Twenty-two hairstylists reached the finals, with first prize going to Michelle McDermott (Ireland). Mauro Santurro (Italy) arriving second, and Pawel Babicz (Poland) nabbing third.
The Alternative event also hosted to the AIPP award ceremony – organised by AIPP (the international association of professional hairdressing magazines), this year’s contest counted 423 collections from 22 different countries.
Tony Rizzo and AIPP president Roberto Pissimiglia were both on hand to present the awards to the five category winners:

Rizos (Spain) Best Commercial Award
Indira Schauwecker @ Toni&Guy (UK) Best Avant-Garde Award
Caterina Di Biase@Heading Out (Australia) Best Photography Award
Klaus Peter Ochs (Germany) Best Men’s Award
X-Presion (Spain) Best Video Award

This year also marked the first time that AIPP joined forces with Alternative Hair Show to present the AH+AIPP International Legend Award. This went to Lluis Llongueras in recognition of his hugely successful career lasting over fifty years. Llongueras is not “just” a hairdresser and businessman – he is an all-round artiste, who also excels in sculpture and writing.
Lluis said “I’m really pleased and I want to congratulate AIPP and Alternative for all the good work they do in promoting our industry. And also for organising these two great events together – it’s essential to valorize our work in all its aspects”.
The legendary Royal Albert Hall stage then welcomed creative teams from all over the world for some great shows: the UK, Ireland, Austria, Russia, Italy, Japan, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Spain. Twenty groups were involved in this show of creative fantasy and art, all focusing on the 2012 theme “Legends” – featuring Sassoon, Gogen, David Murray, Kohsuke Visual Network, Laszlo Hajas, Petra Mechurova, Gerry Santoro, Mario Krankl, Alan Edwards, Klaus Peter Ochs, Tigi, Rizos, Stevo, Saco, Fehringer, Sanrizz, Carlo Bay, Mahogany, Dmitry Vinokurov and Trevor Sorbie.
www.alternativehair.org
Photo Credits: Alex Barron-Hough