Megan zarrabi is the young hairdresser of the year 2008
Megan Zarrabi of hob salons is the new Clothes Show Live Young Hairdresser of the Year after wowing judges with her on-trend crop at the Clothes Show Live.
All 19 finalists* impressed the judging panel, that included Hall of Fame members Lisa Shepherd, Phil Smith of TONI&GUY and Charles and Karen Dodd of Cutting Room Creative, by recreating their photographic entry live on stage.
With a live audience cheering the hairdressers on; they styled and finished their commercial hairstyles and spoke with confidence about the inspiration behind their looks and how they brought them to life.
Judge Charles Dodd said: "The standards have been fantastic. I was very impressed with the photographic stage; but the finalists on the stage were amazing.
"Both the standard of the work, the self confidence and the way they described the work. They must have had a lot of nerves but they didn't let show. It was very good."
"I was pretty blown away by some of the entries," added Karen. "The standard was what you would expect to see in artistic directors in big salons.
"I just wish that when I was younger I'd had the opportunity to enter competitions like this."
The finalists were then narrowed down to the top six, who paraded their looks in front of a crowd of 4,000 young fashionistas in the Fashion Theatre before Megan was announced the overall winner and presented with a cheque for £1,000.
"I was and still am absolutely over the moon about winning this award," says Megan. "The other finalists were very skilled and had such a high standard of work that when they announced I had won, I was in shock.
"I was sad that my year as part of the F.A.M.E Team had come to an end so to win such a prestigious title has made me really proud and excited for the coming year in 2009."
Leah Walton of The Colour Room was named runner up, while Becky Candy of Imagine; Christopher Bryant from the Hair Associates, Michelle Lawley of Royston Blythe and Peter Burkhill from Headlines UK completed the top six.
* Finalist Gemma Leach was unable to attend.
