Congratulations to New Zealand’s own Rebecca Brent of Willis York salon in Wellington, who represented the first ever Australian and New Zealand hub at the 2023 L’Oréal Professionnel Style & Colour Trophy, and took home the illustrious bronze medal.

The international winners were announced online on both YouTube and gaming platform Roblox, crowning those who best created under the Meta-morphosis theme, centred on the virtual world, while a new category for computer-generated imagery artists (CGI) pointed to the future of artistry as well.

Rebecca’s third place title was awarded amongst first place finisher Jingwang Zhang of China Mainland, and second place finisher Slawomir Suder of Poland-Baltics.

“Representing ANZ on the global stage in Paris was a dream come true for me,” Rebecca said. “Finishing in the top three was the pinnacle achievement in my career to date! It was a ‘wow moment’ for me to know that I am capable of world class hairstyling, and it validates my creative ideas around my work.”

Finalists were evaluated during the global finale by a jury composed of four international industry influencers – Min Kim, Derick Monroe, Charlie Le Mindu and the CGI artist Samy La Crapule. Across 35 countries, the finalists were chosen from over 105,000 applications, amounting to five times more than the 2022 edition, and showcasing the talent of the national representatives.

The general public voted for their favourite virtual style through December, with the awards announced on December 19. Making use of Roblox’s 40-million users gaming platform, users took part in this vote as the first ever branded poll session on Fashion Famous, the popular dress-up game, and then were invited to personalise their avatars with creative and diverse hairstyles for the winner announcement. This is synergistic with L’Oréal Professionnel, which has launched four virtual hair collections with Charlie Le Mindu, a global hairstylist, and Evan Rochette, a CGI artist. The brand continues to innovate into modern technology, expanding on over 100 years of hair care, style and colour innovation.

Rebecca won the national title amidst a competitive field, advancing to the finals at a live semi-final gala event in Sydney and winning for a bright pink, layered look, during a comprehensive competition weekend in Melbourne. Her win follows a myriad of ANZ success in the global competition, with our own Wendy Gunn, Massimo Tirimacco and Claudia Cataldo winning the last three iterations of the highly lauded global awards.

Congratulations to Rebecca on this outstanding global accolade!

For more information visit www.lorealprofessionnel.com.au