This past Saturday, over 400 guests traveled from all over the country to New York City to attend TextureMedia’s “Texture on the Runway,” a truly epic celebration of hair as fashion featuring the creative interpretations of texture from leading stylists at ARROJO, Curls Unleashed, Hair Rules, Matrix, and Minardi Luxury Color Care.
For the event, SoHo’s City Winery was transformed from a concert venue to a swanky house of fashion complete with a 40-foot catwalk. The evening was kicked off with a VIP/Media preview sponsored by CURLS during which VIP guests and media outlets, including writers from the New York Times, Essence, Afrobella, and Kim Coles, enjoyed glasses of prosecco and cruised the sponsor tables checking out the various product displays and chatting with the styling teams. Around 7 p.m., the lights dimmed and the packed house crowded around the runway stage to enjoy the hour-long runway show hosted by TextureMedia President and co-founder Michelle Breyer and Taren Guy (Taren916 of YouTube”> featuring the latest trends in texture and haute couture hair.
Highlights from the runway show included:
- Maggie Mulhern of Modern Salon Media kicking off the show with a welcome speech that talked about the importance of the role that hair plays in fashion.
- Nick Arrojo’s presentation of the new ARROJO American Wave, the latest in texturizing technology inspired by the growing, global movement of curls and waves.
- Curls Unleashed’s Dr. Hair and Senior Educators Willie Malone and Zac Britt tousling the liberated and buoyant curls of their models.
- The crowd erupting in cheers as Hair Rules’ show-stopper strutted the stage with a gorgeous head of hair that was easily 2-feet in diameter (and an amazing geometric, printed one-piece pantsuit”>.
- Matrix’s neo-Victorian promenade of models set to a symphonic version of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” featuring sculpturally crimped, curled, and braided hair.
- The creative use of color to enhance texture in the Minardi Luxury Color Care show. “Usually I have to color for style,” explained Design Director Stephen Wang. “But this time I get to style for color!”
Throughout the evening, tweets from attendees and online-viewers were featured in a real-time stream projected on both sides of the catwalk, allowing the event experience to be shared globally as it happened.
“I’ve been to a lot of Fashion Week parties,” gushed one attendee. “But Texture on the Runway is absolutely one of the best I’ve ever been to and I can’t wait until you all do this next year!”
Here are some of our selected photographs from the evening:
Attendees pose in front of the live Twitter stream.
The CURLS rep at their showcase table.
Kim Coles and Afrobella showing off their texture and color.
Curls Unleashed Senior Educators Zac Britt and Willie Malone pose with their model.
Matrix Artistic Director Daniel Roldan poses with one of his neo-victorian inspired models.
Minardi Luxury Color Care creative team: Mark Mileti, Stephen Wang, and Sony Hy pose with their ultra-blonde, ultra-texture model.
Dickey and Kara of Hair Rules pose with their 70’s Halston era-inspired model.
Texture up close at the Hair Rules table.
Host Taren Guy and Dickey of Hair Rules.
Texture Mavens: Empress Ri, Taren Guy, and Michelle Breyer.
Curls Unleashed team shows off their recently-launched products.
Tweeting live at the event.
Matrix Artistic Director Nick Stenson explains his vision on the catwalk.
Nick Arrojo talks about the new ARROJO American Wave.
Hosts Michelle Breyer and Taren Guy.
Matrix model.
Live Twitter feed projected next to the stage.
Guests share a smile on the catwalk.
Mushiya of The Damn Salon.
Joy, a TextureMedia volunteer, and Cassidy Blackwell, Event Producer.
A guest departs with her Texture on the Runway goodie bag.
Lena Arrojo.
Minardi Luxury Color Care Design Director Stephen Wang and Minardi Models.
Hair Rules model.
