Professional Beauty goes backstage at the exclusive Aveda Master Jam 2016 event in the Italian city of fashion, Milan

Combining creativity and craft, the annual Aveda Master Jam Europe celebrates the latest international trends and techniques from the beauty and hair industry. Aveda artists from around the world gather to create spectacular shows and presentations that blend artistry and technical expertise.

Professional Beauty was lucky enough to obtain an exclusive invite to this year’s event, held on October 10 in Milan, enabling us to get inside information on what will be hot in hair and beauty in 2017.

The two-day event began with the Master Jam show, a two-hour catwalk extravaganza where teams from around the globe presented innovative styles featuring a variety of cuts and colours.

The Aveda Italy Team welcomed guests to Milan with their Catwalk for Water show, a celebration of “Earth Month”, a global charitable event which Aveda has participated in since 1999, raising over $38million for deprived countries. The catwalk theme also paid homage to the hypnotic ambiance of the beautiful city.

Reflecting the theme, the models were dressed in recycled materials and their hair was placed in classic chignons, a nod to the the elegance and beauty of the city. Discussing the theme, Gerardo Lionetti, Aveda Italy brand manager, told Professional Beauty: “these looks are versatile, with the ability to be tweaked to suit each individual, whether it’s satin-smooth and ceremonial for a bride-to-be or textured and lived-in for a laid-back and casual evening out.”

Next up, Ray Civello, president of Aveda Canada, led Team Canada with an incredible three-segment show designed to inspire, move and motivate stylists to live life to the full. Not only were the looks striking, they each had meaningful stories behind them. In the final segment, Team Canada paid tribute to the honey bee, presenting three breath-taking and intricate headpieces, constructed of human hair, shaped like honeycombs.
“We shared three amazing segments, pulling from the specific crafts of barbering, cut/colour and editorial,” says Tristan Morrison, senior educator and creative director, Aveda Institutes, Canada.

On trend

The crowd oozed excitement in anticipation of the next showcase; the long-awaited launch of Aveda’s Eclipting technique. Presented by Jo McKay, Aveda European technical director, and Bruno Elorrioroz, an advanced artistic hair specialist, the new signature colouring technique involves choosing tones and colours to suit your client's face shape.

According to the experts, as we move into the autumn and winter seasons it is all about personalisation, especially for blondes. Both McKay and Elorrioroz suggested that when it comes to customising the blonde client, you should think pale yellow, sandy pinks and soft browns – one shade does not suit all. For those with medium base shades of mid blonde to light brown, bronze will be a big trend in 2017, adding richness to last season’s rose gold.

There is also good news for natural redheads as their shade is set to be hot throughout autumn and winter. Once again, bronze will work well when used to contour natural red hair, the duo explained.

The presentation concluded with six models walking the runway, showcasing the beautiful colours created by Aveda’s Eclipting Hair Colour Technique. Models also had their faces illuminated with the new Tulasara Aveda skincare collection.

Just for men
Aveda Men Barbering also took centre stage at the event with Stel Nicolau, master barber and men’s European educator, Zac Fennell, Aveda artist and director of Artizan, and Paul Knight, Aveda artist, showcasing shaves, shapes, grooming and barbering techniques to the crowd.

Male models started the segment with a dance that spiced up the atmosphere, then the three barbers got to work cutting and sharing their exclusive techniques with the crowd, touching on the rise in male grooming and the importance of learning barbering skills to accommodate all clients within your salon.

Supermodel chic

The event ended on a high with Aveda global creative director Antoinette Beenders wowing the crowd with a new personal collection called “Club Chic” – the 1990s supermodel club girl look reinterpreted for today in wearable, chic styles.

“My last few collections were quite avant-garde so this time I decided to turn everything upside down and produce a subtle, consumer-friendly collection – all to create something beautiful, while challenging myself as a hairdresser to step outside of my box,” Beenders says. “Even at our industry educational shows, the looks have been very aspirational for the hairdresser. ‘Club Chic’ is for Aveda guests, cool styles that are very attainable.”

“Cheeky Pop” was another theme for Beenders, who presented a catwalk lined with floating flowers and petals. Models wore custom-made organic cotton dresses bursting with bright, floral designs that swung to the music. The sculptural hairstyles featured a graduated styling technique that Beenders says “provides an instant hair cut without scissors”. All models displayed Aveda Hair Colour that beautifully complemented the architectural, couture hairstyles.

The Master Jam really did reflect Aveda’s ethos, which is to care for the world we live in, from the brand’s Earth-friendly products, to the ways Aveda gives back to society. The brand is also all about fun, and the energetic and charismatic catwalk shows truly reflected the personalities of not just the individual stylists, but of the brand itself.