The Hairdressing Level 3 Apprentices from our Ormeau Road Training Academy really excelled recently, with their incredible creations for their ‘end of year’ showcase.
This display marks the end of their year’s training, the hours working behind the scenes and in class; brainstorming, creating and planning to arrive at this point in their journey. Each apprentice is judged on each of the two looks that they create one is ‘conventional’ and one ‘non-conventional’ , and it was amazing to see their imagination come to life in such a creative way.
Our talented hairdressing tutor Nichola was there to guide them every step of the way and support them through the process. We have all been blown away by what they have achieved and we know that you will too- so keep an eye on our socials during today as we are going to show you the looks from all three apprentices- Deon, Ellie and Erin, and hear a bit more from tutor Nichola too!!
First up is Deon, who is 22 and works in a salon in Larne for 4 days a week and then studies for his Level 3 one day a week in our Ormeau Rd branch, after successfully completing his level 2 with People 1st the year before.
Deon has spent this academical year working towards the creation of these two looks – investigating and creating mood boards, building and creating the way the hair would be shaped to work and flow together and gaining inspiration from Pinterest, social media and using this to create his own sketches on his iPad. His two models are Nicole for the more ‘conventional’ bridal look- and Amy for his ‘non conventional’ floral fashion look. His take has a more romantic yet contemporary feel to the work and the vibrancy of his colours and styling shine through clearly on both models, especially the edgy trend driven piece on his model Amy.
Deon thoroughly enjoyed his year and is so delighted with the two looks ‘”everything has turned out so much better than I could have hoped for…it’s been the most enjoyable thing that I have done in my course here, I have loved every minute of it.”
Deon is hoping to progress on through more levels now to move up to his level 5 and be mentored through this process by Nichola- this level would allow him to become a manager himself or maybe even work towards running his own salon one day, as he certainly has the talent for it!! Well done Deon and we all wish you the best of luck with your future path!!!!
Our second hairdressing student is Ellie who is also 22 and has progressed from Level 2 through to Level 3 with People 1st.
As you can see from our pictures her overarching theme for her two looks has a more gothic avant-garde feel to it. Ellie got her inspiration from a blend of individual elements such as Tim Burton films, Helena Bonham Carter along with her own creative ideas and elements from fashion shoots in high end glossy mags, as well as google and Pinterest, all merged together to create her mood-boards for her looks.
Her two models, Tara for the ‘conventional’ look with a softer, relaxed floral boho wedding look including soft curls and plaits with a gothic twist and Zoe for the more ‘non conventional’ upstyle along with dramatic two toned fringe and styling.
Ellie also included a series of intricate kiss curls shaped by hand on Zoe’s face, along with a series of dramatic feathers placed into the back of the up style. Ellie also did the makeup too on her models, and really enjoyed this element of the process too and she will progress on to study makeup next year too give her a strong combination of both skills for her future career path.
Well done to Ellie, we are all delighted for you and we wish you all the best!!
Third of the talented students is Erin, who is 24 and also came through her Level 2 and onto her Level 3 Apprenticeship qualification with People 1st, and is a bit lover of theatre and TV drama and you can see these theatrical influences coming through in her work.
Erins first ‘conventional’ wedding look on her model Leah is based on the concept of the fairytale princess, seen in books and in TV series’ such as ‘Once Upon a Time’ and more! Erin used this ‘fairytale princess’ as the inspiration for her theme, alongside her own investigations and creativity to create a romantic and feminine aesthetic with her half up and half down softly curled hair using GHD’s.
Her ‘non conventional look is modelled by Janis and is inspired by the 1950’s, Grease the movie, Bandanas, victory rolls and the rockabilly style of the era, using hair tools to get a totally different curl to the her first look, created by a chopstick curling tong- giving a tight yet voluminous effect on the hair. She also incorporated coke cans into her victory roll idea to give it that more commercial runway, high fashion feel.
Erins work is full of different sides of her performance arts background, having worked in amateur theatre and she always helped out in local drama productions by doing the hair and even makeup too so this course was a natural progression for her, She is off to London next to Drama School to pursue her dream of an acting career next, knowing that she has her level 3 hairdressing to support her with her creativity and also provide work in between acting jobs hopefully in the future!! We wish you all the best Erin for this next part of your journey and congratulations on creating such amazing looks!!
The People 1st Hairdressing Tutor Nichola has been there for all the highs and challenges during the past year with the three Apprenticeship students, and is so proud and delighted with the standard of their work. She knows only too well the hard work that the students put in behind the scenes, having gone through the process herself back when she was training, so she was well positioned to support and motivate them through the process.
As Nichola explains, she is only there to oversee and gently guide with the basic concepts to cover to achieve the qualification, but then the students take this and really put their own ‘take’ on it as an expression of their own individual imagination and creativity. They not only have to create the hair but to present each look as a full ensemble with hair style, cut and colour if needed, accessories plus clothes and shoes! So a lot of time spent building each element of the creative looks, throughout the year.
“Today marks the close of the course for our three apprentices and its been a real journey and progression for them over the last three years. As their tutor over this whole time I have really loved watching their development personally and professionally. I have seen massive growth in each of them during this time and I know they will be leaving here with an amazing set of skills to take forward. As you can see from the pictures their creations are all very unique and personal to each of them, which has made it so interesting to see their individual personality and creativity coming through in this display of natural talent. I have loved teaching them all and wish them all the best in their future career paths, its just been incredible to be a part of it” Nichola
Thank you to each of the students for taking the time to share their looks with us and explain their development and thank you to our talented tutor Nichola for all her hard work with the team behind the scenes!! Good luck to all three as they move forward and looking forward to hearing about what they get up to next!! You can find out more about our Apprenticeships Programme by clicking here: https://people-1st.co.uk/programmes/apprenticeships-ni/
