milk_shake Host Kawaii Show in Melbourne

It was a global extravaganza when milk_shake brought the Kawaii show to Melbourne, with Australian and UK educators on stage and a Japanese Harajuku aesthetic pervading the entire evening. Inspiring, creative Avante Garde live styling and colour, as well as artistic runway shows, made a Sunday night in Melbourne that much more cultural.

Hosted at The Palms at Crown, special guest presenters included multi-award winning guest artists and UK ambassadors Shelley Pengilly and David Baker, as supported by the Australian milk_shake education team, led by global ambassadors Kirsty Richey and Amanda Hollingworth from milk_shake Melbourne. National education icon Geoffrey Herberg MCed the evening and created his own hair looks, presenting the talented educators to the stage.

The show utilised hair pieces, pom poms, spray paint, stencils, multi-hued bright colour and bright outfits to put on the artistic show, creating bold hair looks in front of the audience’s eyes in unique ways and even uniquely deconstructing and reconstructing looks to show off their skills in diverse ways. They then paraded these looks down the stage in dynamic runway shows that presented the vibrant and unique hair, beauty and fashion.

The entire show had an editorial and cartoonish aspect to it, presenting the art, the playfulness and the talent in live hair. The colourful show pursued bold artistic choices for both male and female models, with extraordinary outfits, adrogynous or gender non-binary looks and outrageously creative hair looks headlining it all.

The evening also had the opportunity to recognise the finalists in the milk_shake Metallic Marvels competition. Congratulations to each finalist called out on stage – Renee Thorpe, Bianca Pemberton, Paige Swalue, Rachel Little and Megan Darcy. Renee took home the overall prize, earning herself a trip to the Z.One Concept Global Show in Europe 2019.

The Harajuku experience, based on the inspiring Kawaii collection, brought colour, talent and hair ingenuity to Melbourne for an enthralling show, delivering education and entertainment in equal measure. Considering Kawaii refers to Japan’s cute, charming and colourful culture, it was a fitting tribute on stage.