The technique behind the Most Wanted Hair Trend winner

Dive deeper into the concept, colour and inspiration behind Anne Veck’s Most Wanted Hair Trend 2023 winning shot

Anne Veck scooped the trophy for Most Wanted Hair Trend 2023 with her multi-tonal, bevel-edged bob in pretty pastel hues. We caught up with Anne to take us behind the scenes of the process that goes into an award-winning, stunning shot like this one.

The concept  

My Hair Trend winning look is my personal tribute to two great artists. My first inspiration was the work of Dutch artist Piet Mondrian. While some clients are embracing their natural hair colour, others are making a bold statement. Natural highlights and balayage aren’t going anywhere, but we’re now seeing big blocks of colour on blondes, brunettes and redheads. 

Secondly, in 1965, Yves Saint Laurent brought colour blocking to fashion, paying tribute to Mondrian by designing A-line cocktail dresses that evoked the painter’s abstract canvases. The simple cuts, geometric lines and bold colours gave the designer’s collection a modern feel and proved to be incredibly successful. 

The colour

My model, Monika, dares to be different, so for the colour palette I decided to work with pink, blue, yellow and a touch of black to create depth and definition, and make the other colours pop even more. 

I chose these colours for their feel-good factor, and they are what the world needed post Covid when I was creating the look. Pink remains one of the most talked about colours in fashion over the last five years, it represents femininity and romance, it’s not threatening or intimidating, and it is youthful while appealing to all ages.

The formula

Step one:  Full head bleach 20vol

Step two: Using Davines colour mix with 10vol peroxide. Pink Mask with Vibrachrom 1g 4.22 to 10g 000. Blue Mask with Vibrachrom 1g 2.11 to 10 g 000. A New Colour in Yellow full strength. Black Mask with Vibrachrom 1.0 

For the full head bleach, I only needed four shades of lift, so I stayed with 20vol. I prefer saturation and small sectioning patterns versus strength of peroxide. When trying to sift the residue of faded blue colour before the look, I lowered the strength of my peroxide to respect the integrity of the hair. As I achieved a very good lift with my bleach, I only used 10vol to recolour. I only needed to stain the hair. 

The shot

The Purdey was a great statement hairstyle when it was first created in the ‘70s. It’s a cult cut that has evolved and is still seen around today. A modern take on the style keeps it current and wearable. It represents confident, successful and sexy women! 

I opted for the model’s face to be hidden to emphasise the focus and beauty of the hair at the forefront of the image.

The styling

As the hair is so strong, I decided to keep the styling minimal and neutral. Black dress against black background and BAM! All you see is the hair.

The win!

Winning a competition is always a fantastic feeling. A recognition by your peers that your work is inspirational. When you enter competitions, you must be prepared to lose a lot more than you win. You must recognise that failure is just another opportunity to learn, not something that devastates you or puts you back into your comfort zone.

I’m particularly proud of THIS shot as it was quite bold. The model absolutely loved the look and kept it for several months. Colour blocking is bang on trend and pink hair will always be a hot request from clients, so hopefully, that hairstyle ticks all the boxes and clients will be queuing at the salon door asking for it!