Hairdresser off to fashion week
An Invercargill apprentice hairdresser is packing her bags for New Zealand Fashion Week after being named a top-three finalist in a competition.
Hannah Oxley, 21, was voted into the top three of the New Zealand Hair and Beauty Industry Training Organisation (HITO) Hot New Talent competition’s hair stylist category.
She will receive flights and accommodation to New Zealand Fashion Week in Auckland at the end of this month and will get to work backstage.
She will also be paired with an industry leader to be her mentor for at least three months.
Oxley is in the first year of her apprenticeship at the Southern Institute of Technology and works at Do Hair in Invercargill.
After being told she scored a finalist’s spot she at first felt relieved but then nervous, she said.
‘‘I’ll be working with some of the best while I’m up there, so I’m really nervous.’’
She flies to Auckland next Monday. The overall winner of the competition will be announced that evening.
Top of her list of things to pack was a ‘‘good pair of shoes’’, followed closely by her hairdressing tools and a nice dress, she said.
She will remain at fashion week and work backstage with a mentor during the show and was pleased the winner would be announced on her first night, she said.
Oxley was asked to name her preferred mentor and chose New Zealand stylist Richard Kavanagh.
‘‘He’s a bit more internationally renowned and has a funky, quirky style which I think fits with mine,’’ she said.
Aspiring Riverton hairdresser Hayley Colyer missed out on the package, having not gathered enough votes.
The competition was held on Facebook and called for people to ‘‘like’’ each of the competitors’ four entry photos.
A New Zealand Fashion Week spokesman said the competition album, which included entries from the other categories, fashion stylist, makeup artist, female model and male model, was viewed more than 200,000 times.
If Oxley is named the overall winner of her category, she will win her own New Zealand Fashion Week photo shoot.
Oxley’s fellow finalists in the hair stylist category, who will also head to fashion week, are Zeb Schimanski-Hunt and Maddie Bowman.