Mainstage 2018: Tribute to an Icon – Toni Mascolo

The concept of ‘hair event’ took on a whole new meaning earlier this month in London, as 3,500 excited and enthusiastic guests descended on London’s ExCel Arena for the much anticipated return of TONI&GUY MainStage!

Coinciding with the busiest 24 hours of Salon International, London’s Docklands became the indubitable hair capital of the world on 14th October. A huge celebration of one of the UK finest superbrands, MainStage was also a tribute to TONI&GUY’s founder and CEO, Toni Mascolo, the first anniversary of whose passing will be deeply felt by his family and many friends & associates in December. Toni’s wife Pauline, daughter Sacha Mascolo-Tarbuck and two sons Christian and Pierre were on-stage to pay their own moving tributes, while also presenting a tribute video with touching messages from friends, colleagues and family who were close to the spirited entrepreneur. The memories and comments demonstrated just how well loved and respected he was.

Following on from Toni’s tribute, the brand celebrated individual achievements, including Salon of the Year, Hairdresser of the Year, Global Retail Salon of the Year, Distributor of the Year and a special “Lifetime Achievement,” award, which was bestowed upon Jackie Lark, someone who was there from the beginning of the TONI&GUY journey. Next came special musical guest NOT3S ,who appeared from behind the screens to take the show to the next level with top tracks such as ‘My Lover’ and ‘Addison Lee’.

Then it was showtime in the creative sense, with a presentation featuring garments from Mary Katrantzou AW18 headed up by TONI&GUY’s International Artistic Directors Sophie Springett, Hayley Bishop and the TONI&GUY Session Team. This was followed by campaign and collection launches, including Essensuals new campaign launch with a brilliant backstage team led by Cos Sakkas, Francesco Fontana and the Essensuals Salon Team; TONI&GUY Legacy, presented by Global Creative Director Sacha Mascolo-Tarbuck, Eamonn Boreham and the Art Team; a section dedicated to London Fashion Week Men’s by Charlie Cullen and Dexter Johnson with models wearing a combination of Tinie Tempah’s What We Wear brand, Daniel w Fletcher and E. Tautz pieces. 

Philipp Haug, Gary France and the Session Team worked backstage on the superb label.m collection We Are Two//2, which was followed by a beautiful showcase of Giles couture with hair creations led by Indira Schauwecker and the TONI&GUY Session Team. In true TONI&GUY style, the showcase finale was huge. It opened with Schubert’s ‘Ave Maria’ playing whilst Avant Garde rising star Sylvestre Finold’s images lit up the screens. At the close, the screens parted to reveal a live choir who sang whilst models with breath-taking hair creations, led by Avant Garde legend Efi Davies, glided down the runway. And then to close, all 50 models walked the runway to “We Are Family,” embodying the core ethos of a true family-run brand.