The next generation of hairdressers at worldskills london 2011
From October 5th-8th ExCel at Docklands, London, was buzzing with bright-spark electricians, up-and-coming IT whizzes and would-be hairstylists from around the world as the biggest, most exciting careers fair, WorldSkills, came to town.
The international celebration of young people began with a glittering Opening Ceremony at the O2 Arena, where a hairdressing team of L'Oréal Professionnel id artists, led by Marc Trinder from Charles Worthington, worked tirelessly backstage to to dress the locks of 70 dancers.
Styled with clean pony-tails, halo-braids, crimped manes and glossy waves, the dancers complemented the entertainment, which included children's choirs from Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England.
At the centre of WorldSkills London was the competition that saw entrants from more than 50 member countries competing to be world champion in 46 skill areas from bricklaying to beauty therapy and landscape gardening to cooking.
The hairdressing competition had representatives from 25 countries who had 22 hours to showcase their talent by demonstrating eight key hairdressing skills that spanned:
- Ladies long hair
- Men's perm
- Ladies technical
- Men's classic
- Hair by Night
- Men's fashion
- Men's progressive
- Ladies cut from photo
Competing for the UK was Elizabeth Hale from Red Edge in Hertfordshire who was awarded a Medallion for Excellence for finishing sixth with 530 points.
The winner was the French representative, Caroline Schmitt, who won gold with 550 points, while Korea picked up silver and Australia and Finland shared the bronze medal.
With more than 200,000 visitors coming through the doors, WorldSkills London 2011 was also a perfect platform to share the opportunities that hairdressing has to offer. This was delivered by L'Oréal Professionnel who launched its second Dream Career film and booklet.
The initiative, which encourages young people to consider a career in hairdressing, showcased comments from young and established hairdressers explaining why they think hairdressing is their dream career.
Meanwhile a dedicated Have-A-Go area let visitors try their hands at hairdressing. Guided by hairdressing students from Hammersmith & Fulham College, Havering College and Kingston-Upon-Thames, visitors learned hairdressing skills including plaiting hair, adding coloured hair extensions and analysing different face shapes.
The event climaxed with a Closing Ceremony back at the O2, where Chris Humphries, chair of WorldSkills London 2011, celebrated a hugely successful four days.
"The young people who have competed in WorldSkills are the very best in the world and we know these competitors will go on to establish multi-national businesses, develop new products and services and continue to lead their industries - just as their predecessors have done.
"Skills shape our world and we have seen that businesses, politicians as well as teachers and young people realise this.
"We will only see growth return to our economies through an era of skills and entrepreneurship and that's why we're so delighted that 200,000 young people have been inspired by new job and career opportunities at WorldSkills London with hundreds of thousands more having a go at new skills around the UK," he concluded.
