Dear Friends & Followers!
Once again, our Autumn course-series has come to an all-too soon-end.
Throughout the series, we had stylists coming to train with us from as far as Tel Aviv, excited to get an insight into how we in London, create styles that stand out from the rest of the world due to our unique styling sensibilities and techniques.
It always inspires me hugely to know that stylists enrolled on our courses truly know that there is no age-limit to following your ambitions, driven by an ongoing commitment to developing your artistry. If you have the passion to improve and move forward with what inspires you, then the only way is up and up. That passion will have you realise your dreams far beyond what you can imagine.
A number of stylists on September’s course-series had taken the courageous decision to change their career completely, fulfilling their life-long passion within themselves to become hair stylists and follow their calling. Gone are the days when someone told you something is not possible. Possibilities are now endless for us all, and it starts with the knowledge that the only thing standing in our way is our own fear of failure. It’s so wonderful to see that training hard and gaining confidence in one’s skills – can truly transform our entire outlook on life and our career-paths.
We have created our THE ART OF HAIR STYLING series of courses so people are able to dip in-and-out of the modules they feel will most benefit their careers, go home or back to their place of work and practice practice practice. I absolutely love the new dynamics created in the studio by all the stylists within each new module as more new faces joined the classes every few days – This industry is all about making connections with the right people, so to see stylists exchanging contact details and discussing possible future collaborations is what our academy is all about.
The 2-day BLOW DRYING TECHNIQUES For Session Styling course, was over-subscribed this time (We look forward to seeing some of the applicants on November’s course!!), and started-out with an informative talk and demonstration by our resident trichologist, Tatlyn. Once you understand the material (Hair!) you are working with, you have a greater foundational understanding of how to look after your clients’ hair, something we believe should always be top-of-the-list of your work as a session stylist. All my high-profile clients greatly appreciate that I always talk to them about how to best look after their hair – and, believe me, it is an essential part to building an ongoing relationship of trust and respect with your clients.
Our 3-day PERIOD STYLING TECHNIQUES – Evoke The Past Inspire The Future is all about learning how to use your curling tongs correctly and imaginatively. This course is one of my personal favourites, as by the final day, stylists are starting to take what they want from the classes and adapt the techniques to suit their own personal sense of style. My teaching method is always very fluid, encouraging stylists to perfect what their vision is for styles that emerge as a result of the techniques we are covering in each tutorial.
On the AFRO HAIR – From Care & Sculpting To Straightening & Extensions course, we invited top styling brand Design Essentials to the studio to give an excellent demonstration and talk on key-products from their fantastic styling range and how best to use their products to achieve beautiful styling results when working with Afro-textured hair.
Seeing we had scheduled our course to coincide with London Fashion Week, we had the great pleasure to take a team of stylists to work on a few shows where I was able to lead them as hair-designer. (Check out my blog on Professional Hairdresser Magazine!) We had a strong team of ten stylists to work on a series of catwalk shows, show-casing new up- and-coming designer as part of the London-based HofDC fashion collective. My creative director, Martin Wall, and I designed our ‘Twist Your Future’ looks for all the models, and the hair team worked hard at creating the styles on each model. Wow! How much fun did we have amidst the backstage madness of getting all the girls ready in time?? I am so proud of the team and I loved seeing everyone with a sparkle in their eye and a sense of wonder from beautifully achieving the intricate design-brief I set them. Everyone left on a real high – Once you get the the fashion-bug and discover that you can actually thrive within a high-pressure environment – there’s no looking back! So all the designers out there – We are ready for your bookings with a fantastic team to take along!
Our 2-day LACE FRONT WIGS – The Art Of ‘Character’ Transformation course had a really intimate feel with two stylists on the course, transforming each-other with the fabulous Ray Marston wigs they were given and got so much out of learning all the essential techniques needed when working with high-end £3000.00 wigs.
Once again, we secured a fantastic team of guest-tutors with many many years of practical skills. We had the great pleasure of welcoming Denise McAdam, one of the Uk’s most iconic figures in the hairdressing world, who has travelled the world working within every aspect of hairdressing, hairstyling and training, to the academy for the first time. From working with the Royal family, to some of the biggest names in show-business – We were all swept-up by Denise’s wealth of experience and her overwhelming passion for her Art. Thank You, Denise, for bringing such enthusiasm and energy to the studio and sharing your techniques so generously with everyone. We also saw Sherman Hawthorne return to the Academy, with a whole new perspective on styling Afro-hair! What a pleasure and privilege he always makes the time to teach on our course, especially in the midst of his hectic current X-Factor schedule as personal hairstylist to Mel B. We love you Sherman!
On our 2-day HAIR EXTENSIONS & HAIR PIECES course – The wonderful Dion Thomas took over the studio for one day, blowing everyone’s mind with her fantastic methods of working with extensions and hair-pieces, which she has perfected across her career of working on some of the world’s biggest stage events.
Our final course module, EDITORIAL & CATWALK HAIR STYLING – Seeing Your Visions Come To Life, saw our stylists create the most amazing works of art. Fired-up by all the new techniques they had come to perfect, the styles they designed pushed their abilities above and beyond, and we are so very proud of what they all achieved and can’t wait to release the final images over the coming weeks. Our make-up artist on the shoot, the incredible Eli Wakamatsu, who works with the best of the best on the international fashion-editorial scene, could not believe the high level of creativity and technical expertise on the shoot, and said the looks were as good as any high-end editorial couture shoot she has worked on – What a compliment to the creative designer Martin Wall and the hard work the models from Select, and our photographer, Armando, put in on the day. Big Thank You to the designer Monika Selecka for kindly lending us pieces from her beautiful SS15 ‘Conducted Fluidity’ collection for our editorial shoot.
Teaching at the Kevin Fortune Hair Styling Academy is one of the most rewarding parts of my career! Apart from the fact that I get to work with my partner, Martin, everyday – Together it is our intention that all our stylists across the courses find a confident voice and recognition within their chosen field of work, to be as expressive as they can be, fearless in their passion to always push the boundaries to discover new perspectives in their work.
What a joyous three weeks & we look forward to our next THE ART OF HAIR STYLING course-series, starting in November 2014.
A huge THANK YOU to each and every stylist booked onto one, or more courses throughout September for putting your faith in the Academy & I look forward to seeing some of you back in November and, of course, out on jobs in the very near future!!
Love, XKevin
Bookings and Applications have also opened for our first series of 2015 courses – So please check the website for full details!