Love this look

Words: Kim Newth

Making waves in headlines magazine this spring is Rangiora stylist Michele Webb, of Hi Gorgeous, recently named the winner of the inaugural Patrick Cameron photographic challenge. Michele and her husband Steven are achieving exciting results in the field of makeup, hair and fashion photography.

Steven Webb wishes he’d had a camera to capture the look on his wife’s face when Michele was named winner of the inaugural Patrick Cameron photographic challenge last month with her waves and tousled bouffant hairdo. “She was so thrilled – it’s such an amazing achievement!”

For her award winning entry, Michele styled Kaiapoi model Alex Joyce and also photographed Alex’s hair and makeup from three different viewpoints.

Top stylist and awards’ judge Patrick Cameron – renowned for his excellence in dressing long hair – is one of the big names of international hairdressing.

At judging time last month, Patrick took one look at Michele’s work and declared, ‘Wow, what great looks!’ He loved what she’d produced: “Not only did it have a very editorial feel which we were looking for, it was also a strong feeling of fashion right now.”
Michele worked hard to produce her stand-out entry, with hours and hours of preparation needed to get the desired look.

Says Michele, “I researched the coming trends and saw there was a lot of waves and texture coming through. I also took a good look at Patrick Cameron’s work and got inspiration from watching him,” explains Michele, who says the next step was trialing the look through practice runs at the salon. Selecting the right clothing and accessories was another big part of the entry.

“Steven provided so much help and encouragement behind the scenes. We were working on it right up to the deadline and sent everything by courier in the end!”

Canterbury’s snowy weather almost grounded Michele and Steven for the challenge award night, but fortunately they were able to get a flight up in time to attend the ‘Evening with Patrick Cameron’ at the Novotel Ellerslie in Auckland on August 15.

As well as winning a trophy, styling books and a DVD, Michele’s win means she will get to have a day’s worth of one-on-one training with Patrick when he next returns from the United Kingdom in January.

“It’s incredible that I now have this opportunity to spend a day with him; it’s absolute gold.”

In early September, Michele also achieved outstanding results at the NZ Association of Registered Hairdressers Editorial Stylist of the Year event where the goal is to produce a fashion forward look suitable for the cover of a hairdressing magazine. Michele’s work impressed the judges, winning second and fourth places for Canterbury/Westland at the event in Wellington.

Michele and Steven first bought their salon business in 2001, with Michele coming to national prominence in 2003 on winning first runner-up at the prestigious Wella Trend Vision competition.

It was a growing interest in photography that prompted her recent return to competition. “I needed the challenge and putting photography and hairdressing together has also given us a new edge. We’d started to combine hair, makeup and photography; the next step was ‘why not compete?’”

Membership of the Rangiora Photographic Society has been hugely beneficial: the couple, both competitive by nature, enjoy the challenge of trying to beat each other at club events. “It has been great for both of us,” says Steven. “There’s nothing like having your work critiqued to make you really think about what you’re doing. Michele and I operate quite differently, but we’ve both won a lot of awards with the club.”

Over the last few years, they’ve also had specialist training in photography and studio work.

Michele and Steven combine their camera and lighting skills through their mobile studio work, which can be privately booked for makeovers and other assignments.

Winning the recent photographic challenge has only encouraged them to continue to extend and develop this aspect of their business.

As Michele acknowledges, it’s been a tough year for everyone in Canterbury. Her own response to it is to try and be the best she can be and continue to produce inspiring work.

Michele and Steven worked with Country Lane and the Loobie’s Story label to create this month’s front cover. Hi Gorgeous and Country Lane, celebrate respectively 10 and 20 years of successful business in Rangiora.