The 2014 Evolution Fashion Festival kicked off a week of high fashion revelry with a simply spectacular Hair and Beauty show at the Earl Cameron Theatre on Monday evening. The show started just after 7.30pm, and ran at a brisk, sometimes breathtaking pace over a refreshingly precise 90 minutes.

Patrina (Power Girl) Paynter hosted the evening, adding a charismatic, personal touch to the amazing artistry on show. Seven local hair studios participated in the show, and each one presented fresh, innovative looks suitable for the runway and the road side.

Allure was first up with a collection called Welcome to the Neon Jungle. This was a great start to the show, providing a firm platform for the heavy hitters ahead. The collection itself featured bright neon colours clashing with rustic animal prints and artistically relevant foliage to create a delightfully stylish presentation.

Elite Salon upped the stakes a tad with their awesome collection entitled #Bad. This sleek, chic, and often outrageous presentation featured giant red bows and oversized white baubles set against glossy black fabrics to create a wonderfully modern, Sin City-like effect. Elite Salon certainly lived up to its name with this majestic study in red, white, and black.

The next collection was easily one of the best of the evening. Impressions Hair Artistry brought the thunder and the rain with their stunning presentation entitled simply, Africa. From Egyptian royalty to Sub-Saharan ceremony, all the pomp and pageantry of Africa was deftly delivered in this glorious, engaging, and stunningly beautiful presentation.

There was black body paint, white body paint, bright colours, intricate accessories, brilliant braiding, majestic headdresses, picture-perfect costumes, playful pomp, and even a cameo from world renowned Bermudian model Amir. This collection was a well-deserved crowd favourite, and rightfully received the first of just two partial standing ovations throughout the night. Simply superb.

Luxe Salon presented next, delivering a more youthful exhibition. This unnamed collection was full of fun, fresh styles featuring bright colours and intricate designs to appeal to the young fashionista on the run. Perhaps the most memorable pieces in this collection were the delicate designs shaven into the hair of the young male models.

Braid-based styles with innovative attachments and swashes of straight coloured hair dominated the Nadz Beauty Salon presentation. There was a rustic feel here, with twigs, earth tones, and subdued textiles rubbing shoulders with muffled colours and splashes of spectacle; and then there was the girl with her head in a side-less hair cube.

Strands presented next, and immediately demanded attention with their choice of music, the ADHD inducing Bangarang by Skrillex. This small collection of only six looks was led by avant-garde European styling presented with considerable flair and loads of attitude. This impressive presentation was highlighted by the standout male hair design, marvellously memorable make-up, and perfectly moody models. High energy, sparkles, and rock star styling; a very excellent collection indeed.

Owner and Head Stylist Tanju Kurt led his team on a mission to steal the show with the imperious finale by TK Hair. This presentation opened with a group of ladies sitting on blocks looking like mannequins, which indicated immediately that this would be a very professional presentation.

The models then started to walk through the ‘mannequins’ and immediately extracted gasps from the capacity crowd. Big hair and tight black dresses were prominent throughout this collection, but were occasionally offset by multicoloured straight hair styles modelled with picture perfect attitude. The styles displayed on the models were, in fact, so eye catching and engaging that we barely noticed Mr Kurt and his team frantically combing, cutting, shaping and spraying the hair on the seated ‘mannequins’ in the background.

By the time the pre-styled models had finished strutting their fabulously creative ‘dos’ around the stage, the seated mannequins-cum-models were also ready to show off their freshly teased tresses; and boy were they impressive!

This was a wildly worthy finale to an amazing exhibition of world-class hair artistry, and garnered the second partial standing ovation of the evening; a tribute well earned and fully deserved.

The Evolution Fashion Festival continues tonight with the Local Designers’ Showcase at the Pier 6 Harbour Rooftop on Front Street. The Evolution team has been working assiduously for weeks to prepare their talented group of local models, and here’s the chance to see local models modelling locally designed and manufactured clothing. What could be better?