Style Director of Oscar Oscar Toowoomba Salon Michael Young was recently lucky enough to work at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia. “Working backstage at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week was one of my career goals, and getting selected to style for Redken was a career highlight for me,” said Michael. “The buzz of working backstage of such a large scale high fashion event was awesome.”

Working for Oscar Oscar, Michael was given the opportunity to audition for the Redken style team for the Fashion Week event. The audition consisted of completing a number of styles in a set time frame, whereby participants were judged on their skill, as an individual and as a team player. Michael’s role was to be a part of the style team backstage, working under key hair directors such as Richard Kavanagh and John Pulitano. The hair directors had collaborated with the designers to how the hair was to be and then translated to them, while overseeing everything and doing the final touches. Besides having the opportunity to work alongside Richard Kavanagh, who had done covers of high fashion magazines, Michael also had the pleasure to work on Eliza Baker, a well-recognised model in the industry.

When asked what spurred him to originally become a hairdresser, Michael replied, “for as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a hairdresser. There was something about the lifestyle and the creativeness that inspired me, but I didn’t want just your standard work in a salon as your whole life career!” Michael has worked on cruise ships around the world, participated in competitions, have been published in hair magazines and worked backstage at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, but he says that it is not the end for him.

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