Voting makes us happy
We have been finalists in the City of Sydney Business Awards for the last 3 years, winning it the last two times. It was a huge honour, and it comes to that time again when we need our supporters (friends and family) to vote. you can do it by SMS "Stevie" 0447447070 or vote using your email address) here the city of sydney business awards #tip Glebe postcode is 2037
Hair Expo 2011 Generation Next.
Hair Expo is the largest hairdressing conference in the southern hemisphere. It attracts some of the biggest names in the hairdressing industry, with over 200 exhibitors, 2000 models, hair stylists chopping, colouring and creating amazing styles to enthrall local talent and makeup artists helping. It's a big three days. 
This year, Stevie English Hair was asked to do a show at the prestigious Sunday night Generation Next night. It's a bit of an honor to be asked, but the invitation comes with a lot of pressure.
We decided an English theme was the way to start (obviously) our assault on the Hair Expo stage. We shot a collection with Nicole McCluskey in March and we had the awesome CNCphotography do are moving image for the collection, and we used these images as the start of prepping for the show. It took 4 story boards, and many hours of talks and meetings just to come up with the ideas . Stevie English Hair creative director Verity Griffths worked tirelessly on this show, it would be impossible to calculate the amount of time and energy she spent on every aspect . Now we have a top team with ideas and help, but nothing quite prepared me for the amount of work, time and effort that goes in to a 5 minute show. This is a summary of what went on:
* 8 models
*2 extras ( punks)
* 1 kid
* 12 separate looks
* 16 wigs and hairpices
* 10 fantastic vintage costumes, sourced from Grandma takes trip by our amazing stylists Kelly Hume and Mattie Cronan.
*1 handmade Vivienne Westwood-style skirt, made from Union Jack flags and Stevie English Punk Regal print fabric.
* 2 choreographers
* 3 photographers
* 5 makeup artists
* 1 manicurist
* 16 hairstylists
* 1 live stream blogger and technical manager
* 1 horse
* 1 dog (note: horse and dog did not make it onstage, the old saying about working with animals is true!)
It was the biggest team project we have ever undertaken, and we pulled it off. The show was incredible, everything we wanted it to be, and the realisation of Verity's vision. It's difficult to explain how proud we are of our whole team, and how much we appreciate the work they all put in. Can't wait until we have the video to post, but in the meantime, here are a few images taken backstage and on the night. What fun we had!
A special thanks to the companies who helped us with our show so a O&M , GHD , Prohairstylist and Skoda
Hairdresser's Natural Approach
I was lucky enough to be asked to help film an advert for Tafe (college) NSW, its away to help get best practice in Tafe's and school's on climate isues . I was asked to talk about eco-friendly hair products like O&M and talk about what we have implemented in the salon do do our bit for the environment. Its always fun having a camera shoved in your face and to be asked lots of green questions. We love green issues, all the Stevie English staff have taken it on too, from re-cycling, to drying towels outside and the little things like switching plug points off minimize affect and energy consumption. Its wonderful to be given the opportunity to share with and inspire young hairdressers to make a difference. Would like to thank the team who came in and filmed and hopefully will make me look good Hopefully... *crosses fingers*
Hairdressing Salon Training In Glebe At Its Best
To have the best salon in Glebe, voted by the city of Sydney two years running is amazing, but we love our hair skills to do all the talking. But how do we stay sharp? We hire one of the best in business to come in and train our staff in our upstairs Academy. Tracey Hughes who owns and established mieka hairdressing is Melbourne. Tracey is one of the great educators in Australia, she is one of the Artistic directors for redkin and spends her life traveling around Australia and the globe. Tracey has just come back from NY fashion week. Its great to inspire our team with 1 on 1 training and Tracey's approach to hair is enthusiastic. What with her fashion talk from NY, catwalk styles, future predictions of trending hair styles and colours.
Hair coming out of Stevie English will be current and fun. Thanks Tracey.
The Best Salon In Sydney Two Years Running!
We have done it again! The hangovers have subsided and we have another trophy on the mantle piece.
We are always thrilled to be nominated or to win awards for our hairstyles but I think hairdressers often forget the business side of our industry, we are the left-brain creative types. So for us to win a business award for the second year running is a big deal. It shows that it is possible to be creative and to understand my business. It's a team effort, The creative team make our business successful, and the business team make sure we don't go bankrupt!
We have lots of great friends who help us, none more than the team who own Atlantis Hair . They were also nominated in this award category, and I dedicated the win to them. They taught us so much about starting up and being successful, as did our friends at Chumba Hair. And some other great friends who i would be nothing without. We are very proud of ourselves, and forever grateful to our fantastic team and our super amazing clients. Thanks for voting everyone, and thanks for the support. We love you all!
Go #TeamEnglish
Getting Seriously pampered in Glebe
We are very priviliged to work with great people, especially the lovely team from Realize beauty.
So two lucky winners will come up or down to Sydney and get the Stevie English treatment, then they will have an image consultation by Cosmina, and be taken shopping with $500 to spend on a guided shopping tour of Sydney. Amanda Foxon-Hill, who is the big brain behind Realize Beauty will do a cosmetic kitchen workshop. The winners will then get to take part in their very own photo shoot. How Awesome!
Hair Biz, Stevie English And A Geezer.
It has been so cool to watch our shop grow from 2 employees to 14, and to have this great vibe whilst working, but the cream on top is getting industry recognition. We are so lucky to work with and educate for top product companies like Bio-Ionic, who give us our great straightening products Kera-Smooth and ReTex as well as the amazing OnePass irons and dryer. O&M is the best colour company on the planet and I get to talk all the time about ammonia free hair colour and its joys ,and Simplesalon, which is just the best and simplest salon software on the market. Everything in the salon is a team effort #TeamEnglish, and all the staff work really hard on looking after every client, as well as education as well as looking after me. They put up with the crazy schemes and silly jackets! ;)
ps thanks to Hairbiz
Katrina Bowden has no Equal
Raquel, who is one of are youngest stars was out assisting in hair and makeup shooting Katrina Bowden, for the Wish Clothing campaign and then again for OK Magazine. We love 30 Rock and Tina Fey can do no wrong. Katrina Bowden is the hot ditsy secretary of Liz Lemon on the show, but Katrina is out to be the face of Wish. I asked Quelle if she had fun-"heaps of fun, the day has no equal that I can remember, it was great", she replied. We can't wait to see the Wish campaign shots and the pics from OK.... watch this space. 
Cool Hair in Glebe
Verity has just finished a crazy few weeks of editorial, here is a few shots of her work published in a UK online mag. Verity is off over sea's for 6 weeks to shoot in LA, New York, Stockholm, London and Paris there is no stopping this girl. Watch this space for shots ;)
Verity last day in the salon is 20th of July she is working a few Sundays to fit her loyal clients in.
Australian Social Media Superhero's and hair?
Here is the extract out of a blog post this week were I is featured not for hair but for what I do tapping on away on my computer all the time. See it is work!
You’re probably surprised to see a hairdresser on the list – hairdressing is rarely associated with social media. However, hairdressing is a business, too, so why shouldn’t it be promoted in the same way as any other business venture? Just because their main line of work is not solely online, it does not mean that the man on the street doesn’t know how to harness the power of the Internet to their advantage.
The brand name Stevie English is derived from Steve’s English roots – he was born in Somerset – his real name is Steve Corthine. He has been hairdressing for over 15 years in a career that has seen him work as far a field as the US, Asia and London before setting up show here in Australia. His work has appeared in Marie Claire and Oyster magazines, and on various fashion shows and shoots all over Australia. He uses social media as a way of promoting his business through the Stevie English Hair website, blog, Facebook account and Twitter. It’s a wonder he has any time to fix fancy hairstyles with all that typing!
Well its true i do i do tweet and use facebook a lot, but here is the prof its not a waste of time. :)
Reign of the Ranga.
Australia has a new Prime Minister. A female Prime Minister. She's smart, successful, and.....she's a redhead. We are hairdressers, not political commentators, so let's focus on the hair, shall we? Ms Gillard has had a variety of hairstyles over the years, but one thing has remained constant- the colour. Red, copper, highlights, full colour, but always a fetching shade of red. Here in the salon, we love redheads. Adding red shades or sections to brunette hair is a simple way to change your look, and is flattering to most skin tones. A full colour takes longer, but the result is vibrant, daring and a sure-fire way to stand out in a crowd of blondes and brunettes. O&M have an awesome range of NO ammonia bright coppers and reds, which are great on the hair and environment.
Natural redheads, like Ms Gillard, usually have very fair complexions and the natural red and orange shades can be brightened, or depth can be added using highlights or lowlights. We always recommend a colour lock treatment-we use Nanomax in the salon to help maintain bright colours. Colour enriched shampoos and conditioners help to prolong the vibrancy of colour- we stock Davines here at the salon . Often redhead or strawberry blonde hair colours suit people with green eyes.
We congratulate Julia Gillard on her new role as Australia's first ever female PM, and we welcome the reign of the ranga!
Ksubi, RAFW 2010
Ksubi, one of the most famous clothing labels here in Australia, it's the hipsters choice. When Verity said she was going to be doing hair at Ksubi, all the staff were dying to assist. Ksubi is cooler than cool, and as they have not shown in a few years there was a lot of buzz and excitement around the show.
The hair brief was "Centre part, everyone had their hair extended with wefts (fake hair) and cut straight" and if you have seen models hair you know that's hard! Went with a geometric, sixties vibe. "28 models, not enough time to prep hair, HELL WITH THE LID OFF!!" said a very tired but clever Verity. Some times the most simple looks can be some of the hardest to pull off.
Verity was just one of the team directed by Jon Pulitano.
Camilla & Marc Oz spring/summer 2010
Quite often in fashion shows, doing hair for 20 models in a short time can be rather challenging, so the hair is kept quite simple. For the Camilla & Marc show it was "dry textured, rough, and with a low pony". A ponytail can be the undoing of a hairdresser, it is not as easy as it looks, especially done well! I have seen many a hairdresser struggle to do perfect one, and with added time constraints it's tough work! ) Thankfully Verity, Kirsty and Jade are wizards at this and to have them passing on this knowledge to younger staff is great for our future, and Stevie English Hair.
Seventh Wonderland Australian Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2010
So This week in Sydney is Rosemount Australian Fashion Week, and Verity and Raquel are out of the salon working on shows. We are going to be giving Verity's tips on how she created the looks for designers over the next few days. Most of it is going to be for the hairdressing nerds, but hey, we like to keep you informed. At The English: "Knowledge is Power".
These photos here are from the Seventh Wonderland show. "Hair was heavily gelled and section by section, working from the nape to the forehead, it was smoothly wrapped back and forth against the head. Front sections directed forward and then swept up and back in the crown sections. The very front/top sections were sculpted wet onto the face and flowed around the sides and onto the neck. The finished look was wet, modern, 20's/50's skull bathing cap. Was really beautiful with the swimwear",said Verity.
Love your work V.
Australian Fashion week 2010 And Hair
We are often asked to do shows and events, we have loads of things on this year and half the staff are going to be out doing shows during Fashion Week-the first week in May. But the first cab off the rank so to speak was Kirsty who was Hair Director for Justine Davis. Justine has been a fan of ours for awhile and we are huge fans of hers. Kirsty was up for many nights creating lots of hair pieces for Justine's models and looks. I know it was a big day with 5 strand braids and a young team from the English to help. Great work Kirsty.
