Kevin murphy share the colour bug

Kevin Murphy created a stunning celebration of colour to mesmerise more than 400 hairdressers from around the world at the Kevin.Murphy.UK Show 2011.

Hosted in the opulent setting of Camden's KOKO night club, the event saw a trio of live presentations that transcended all styles of hairdressing from the precision cuts of Saco to Kevin's boundary-pushing avant garde creations.

Having launched - and sold out of - the innovative Colour.Bug products at Salon International, it was only natural that colour would be pivotal to the show and this was delivered with a palette that ranged from natural tones to acid brights and soft pastel shades.

Saco opened the presentations with a few moments of monochrome magic. Their models took to the stage wearing head-hugging bobs and pageboy cuts in creamy blondes and deep mulberry tones accented with the season's must-have shade, teal.

Then it moved from the commercial to the editorial as Kevin.Murphy Session.Masters Felicity Davis and Carl Reeves worked with contrasting textures and clashing colours to create a wow factor.

Felicity's creation 'waves that last on acid' saw soft beautiful wavy locks set off with a pop of sunshine yellow; while Karl complemented waist length hair extensions with a rainbow of pastel colours blended together in a candy floss texture.

Next it was over to Kevin himself who told the audience "I'm an unusual type of hairdresser. I don't cut hair and I don't colour hair!"  

He created two looks live on stage and shared the wisdom he has gained from his work as a session stylist.

"These are fascinating times because everything is in fashion. You see tribal influences, or 60s shapes with a 80s finish, or models with 40s make up complementing 60s hair," he explained.

Those tribal influences were evident on stage where Kevin rick-racked hair to create a mass of curls that formed an afro shape with a squared off perimeter, and a turban-style look created from rope plaits coiled around the head.

The finale saw 24 models take to the stage with contrasting creations that spanned trends from the 20th century.

Men wore asymmetric quiffs with nods to 50s teddy boys, while flowers complemented plaited hair in 70s style, but it was the 80s trend for acid tones that made the biggest statement and proved that Kevin Murphy really has got the colour bug.