<p>Hair: Ann Bray; hair color: Nicole Fowler; hair detailing: Andy Mendoza; hair tech: Leslie Wilson; photographer: Luis Alvarez; makeup: Wanda Alvarez; nails: Yuliya Normand for Morgan Taylor; fashion stylist: Lory Sun</p>

Hair: Ann Bray; hair color: Nicole Fowler; hair detailing: Andy Mendoza; hair tech: Leslie Wilson; photographer: Luis Alvarez; makeup: Wanda Alvarez; nails: Yuliya Normand for Morgan Taylor; fashion stylist: Lory Sun

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<p>Hair: Ann Bray; hair color: Nicole Fowler; hair detailing: Andy Mendoza; hair tech: Leslie Wilson; photographer: Luis Alvarez; makeup: Wanda Alvarez; nails: Yuliya Normand for Morgan Taylor; fashion stylist: Lory Sun</p>
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Hair: Ann Bray; hair color: Nicole Fowler; hair detailing: Andy Mendoza; hair tech: Leslie Wilson; photographer: Luis Alvarez; makeup: Wanda Alvarez; nails: Yuliya Normand for Morgan Taylor; fashion stylist: Lory Sun

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Throughout the last decade, Luis Alvarez, VP of BaBylissPro and founder of Aquage, and his team of artists representing the brands under the BaBylissPro umbrella, collaborate on developing the imagery for the annual Chicago-based America’s Beauty Show.

To create the branding for the 2019 show, held March 30 to April 1 at McCormick Place in Chicago, Alvarez and team had a focused vision.

“I titled the collection Art Noir because it’s a contrast on how beauty always reveals itself out of the darkness,” Alvarez says. “Everything is dark except for the hair and the light. We’re playing with the absence of color with focus on form.”

Alvarez and hairstylist Ann Bray are known for their incredible collaborations of hair meets art.

“It’s such a symbiotic relationship, our aesthetics are in such tight alignment,” Alvarez says. “Ann’s hairdresser perspective, my photographer point of view, it’s so smooth.”

Kristen Erickson, who leads the creative direction for America’s Beauty Show, likens Alvarez to a Swiss army knife.

“He can style hair and cut hair at a master level, all with a designer’s eye,” she says. Not to mention, capture the images through his photographer’s eye and lens. “This year it was all about the lighting. Luis literally painted with light. The artistry is incredible.”

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