It’s the notorious style spectacle that serves as the opening event for the Australian Hair Fashion Awards (AHFAs) every year, and 2022’s iteration of the opening runway – powered by Principle Partner Dyson – was certainly one for the history books.
Briefed with capturing the essence of ‘ICON’ for the eagerly anticipated runway show, Dyson Styling Ambassadors Damien Rinaldo & Michael Beel joined forces with designers Yousef Akbar & Jason Grech for an all-out explosion of creative beauty and hair styling, that stole the show and truly encapsulated the word iconic.
Using Dyson’s range of Professional hair care tools to create their respective hairstyles, Damien & Michael presented a series of looks designed to capture the essence of ‘ICON’, manifesting a mix of sci-fi and classic styles with a modern undertone.
The runway collaboration saw Michael join forces with designer Jason Grech to create a glittering, bejewelled ode to the modern icon whilst Damien featured floor-length braids delicately interwoven with golden chains in his looks created to compliment Yousef Akbar’s designs.
“With Dyson it’s all about hair health. You can push the hair and create these avant garde looks, and still protect the condition of the hair.”
Michael Beel, Dyson Styling Ambassador.
For both hair directors, seeking inspiration from their respective designers was key in crafting their stunning runway looks. “It’s a really cool look, it’s very simple,” says Damien of the looks created for the Dyson runway. “We’ve done some scarfing through the front, and then extended the hair at the back to create a plait lengthened out to the ground. This was then embellished with chain detail to really work the hair with Yousef Akbar’s outfits.”
Michael looked to capture the dichotomous style that Jason Grech is renowned for when creating his looks. “Jason Grech is all about sexy mixed with a harder look, so what we’ve created is a wet, edgy look using the Dyson Supersonic™ hair dryer professional to style, and then we’ve added some sparkling beauty elements to the hair that will really pick up under the runway lights and capture that wow factor,” he explains.
As for the execution? “We used the Dyson Corrale™ straightener professional edition to achieve this soft yet gritty, lived in texture within the hair, and then utilised the Dyson Supersonic™ hair dryer Professional to lock in those finishing details,” he explains. “With Dyson it’s all about hair health. You can push the hair and create these avant garde looks, and still protect the condition of the hair.”
With such creative icons working back of house with the very best tools in hand to create these magical looks that took the runway by storm, it’s no wonder that the 2022 Dyson Runway was the talk of the awards and inspired many a creative mind lucky enough to be in the room.
In a word? Iconic.
