Alba Andreu, the overwhelming talent of the new generation of hairdressers
Alba Andreu, member of Salones CV by Carlos Valiente Team (Valencia, Spain), tells us about her experience at the Figaro Awards 2022, where she won the Newcomer Hairdresser of the Year Award.
How do you create a collection for the Figaro Awards?
The first step is to work on a moodboard of inspirations. No matter the theme, anything can give you the inspiration you need to create the four images of the collection. Then you transmit the idea to the team and you start to shape it.
What atmosphere is breathed in the backstage, the hours before the gala?
The backstage is the place with the most stress and adrenaline in the entire gala: that countdown, that “5 MINUTES LEFT, GUYS”, having to do everything you have prepared and thought of in such a short time. But it's super nice to see a whole team work together. I think that's where you really live the Figaro experience.
What do you feel when you finally see your work on the catwalk?
For me it's a real source of pride, an incredible emotion that is impossible to control. I cried seeing the first model come out and knowing that, finally, all that effort would be seen by everyone reflected on a catwalk.
What does it mean to you, as a professional, to win a Figaro Award?
It is motivation, a way of remembering why you started, recognition of your effort and, above all, enormous pride.
What would you highlight from your winning collection?
The message. I wanted to capture in four photos that vindication of life, the desire to break the rules, to think that in this life anything goes. Another aspect I would highlight is the union between hairdressing and fashion, so that both get the same importance.
In your opinion, how do the Figaro Awards help to give prestige to the profession?
The Figaro Awards take us out of the salon to show our most creative vision on the catwalk. We have to unite and work on it to get hairdressing to the top, and Figaro is the key to start achieving it.
What advice would you give to other colleagues in the industry who also want to succeed at Figaro?
My advice is that 'if you want to, you can'. Never give up if you really believe in something, sooner or later your time will come.
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The Club
The objective pursued by Club FÍGARO is recognition, both professionally and socially; thus raising our profession to the category of excellence, just as sectors such as fashion or gastronomy did at the time. Our mission is aimed at making our work known, admired and respected, both in the national and international territory, thus consolidating an increasingly cosmopolitan and powerful industry.
The Contest
The Spanish Hairdressing Awards, also called Fígaro Awards, value the photographic works of the hairdressing creations of the participating firms, to reward the most outstanding creative hairdressers in the country. They consist of five categories and were established in 2009 to give notoriety and visibility to the artistic work of Spanish hairdressers. The basic objective pursued by Club Fígaro with the creation of these awards is the social and professional recognition of hairdressing in Spain to consolidate an industry that is increasingly cosmopolitan and powerful.
Participating hairdressers register online to participate and upload their photographic collections to the Club Fígaro website. Afterward, the professional jury, made up of prominent personalities from national and international hairdressing and which changes every year, individually and independently votes the collections submitted anonymously, so impartiality is guaranteed.
Club Fígaro has the support of its main sponsor Revlon Professional, Salón Look IFEMA MADRID, a leading trade fair event, as an official partner and The Hair MBA, as a collaborator. Finally, Club Fígaro has the support of the main professional beauty magazines and portals in Spain.
