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SEARCHOn September 25, Wella’s top-five schools in the Midwest gathered in Omaha, Nebraska for its Mid-West School Competition. Each school—Capri, Stewart, Capitol, Hays and La James— had five finalists compete in each category, Sebastian’s What’s Next and Wella’s Trend Vision.
Jamie Newman
On September 25, Wella’s top-five schools in the Midwest gathered in Omaha, Nebraska for its Mid-West School Competition. Each school—Capri, Stewart, Capitol, Hays and La James— had five finalists compete in each category, Sebastian’s What’s Next and Wella’s Trend Vision. In addition, each campus nominated an instructor to participate in the Instructor of the Year competition at the event.
430 attendees watched as models worked it down the runway, voting for each look on their smart phones. A panel of five judges—Stephen Moody, Jim Yates, Megan Newell, Galin Hristov and MODERN SALON’S Jamie Newman—pre-judged the models backstage before the runway presentations, and scored them again during the show.
Between runway competitions, members of the Wella/Sebastian artistic team—Stephen Moody, Miroslav Kabic Yomi, Kristin Isaac, Alex Rosas, Galin Hristov, Joe Poff and Zeb Ratliff— presented cuts, color formulas and styling demos.
Winners and runners-up scored swag bags, products and tools from Wella/Sebastian and Babyliss, Hempz, Repechage, Cricket and Galin Hristov, who were sponsors of the event. Winners were also automatically entered into the Student Category as a semi-finalist for either Sebastian’s What’s Next Awards (WNA) or Wella’s North American Trend Vision Awards (NATVA).
Competitors sought inspiration for their designs based off of the themes for each category. Wella's "Molten Ecaille" theme drew its aesthetics from raw material, precious metals and a jeweller's art, which included enameling, shaping and oxidation. Sebastian's "Eclectic" theme looked at juxtaposed styles like rough and smooth, braided and undone, while utilizing embellishments such as buckles, clips, sticks, binder rings and strips of leather. Students were judged based off of how well they interpreted the themes and, of course, the finished look.
WINNERS:
WELLA PROFESSIONALS, “MOLTEN ECAILLE”:
FIRST PLACE: Alayna Henzler, Hays
SECOND PLACE: Mary Lavin, Hays
THIRD PLACE: Jarah Ripp, Capitol
SEBASTIAN PROFESSIONAL, “ECLECTIC”:
FIRST PLACE: Colten Yungeberg, Hays
SECOND PLACE: Marisol Silva, Capitol
THIRD PLACE: Ashton Whaley, Capri
INSTRUCTOR OF THE YEAR: Ashley Paulson, Hays
Hays wins first-prize in each category.
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