• Joanne Charlton
• On November 19, 0205

The third day of mentoring for the TrendVision Award UK & Ireland Gold Winners was hosted by Darren Ambrose, co-founder of the salon group D&J Ambrose and winner of five British Hairdressing Awards. Darren is one of the creative leaders in Britain’s Hairdressing Industry, producing both jaw dropping photographic work and wearable styles within his salon.

“I’m a firm believer in working hard to achieve your goals. For this reason, I wanted to congratulate the winners on their place at the International TrendVision Award. A lot of time and hard work goes into these competitions and it deserves to be recognised.
“To begin with, I felt that I should provide some background to my career so that the winners have a greater insight into my experience and, in turn, where I produce my advice and mentoring from. I told them about the journeys of some of the iconic looks that I’ve created during my partnership with Wella, from their conception right through to their creation. I dressed the room with some couture fashion pieces to highlight the areas from which I draw inspiration with the hope that it would motivate and encourage the winners throughout the day.

“I wanted to reinforce to the winners that they’re telling a story with their look, from the hair design down to the clothing and makeup. It’s key for the winners to always remember their story – tell it and develop it.

“To make the most of our time working together, I asked the winners to take part in a self development workshop in which I tasked them with layering colour and using out of the box techniques featuring tie-dying and marbled effects. I wanted to emphasise to them the joy and beauty that can come from thinking of alternative ideas that are outside of their comfort zone. They must remember that they’re artists and so it’s a requisite for them to be individual and unique. Their message has to be strong to stand out and be noticed on the global stage.”