Local girl gets once in a lifetime hairdressing opportunity The F.A.M.E. (Fellowship Academy of Merit and Excellence) Team is an annual hairdressing initiative, founded in 1993 by the Fellowship for British Hairdressing a prestigious trade body to promote a ‘new generation’ of talent destined to represent “The Future of British Hairdressing.” To date over 50 young hairdressers have experienced F.A.M.E. including subsequent British Hairdressers of the Year Umberto Giannini, Antoinette Beenders and Lisa Shepherd.

Local girl Adele Simpkin, 23, of the Trevor Sorbie salon in Brighton has been singled out along with Carly Aplin, Katie Hubbard, Vicki Turner and Megan Zarrabi as a star in the making. As the F.A.M.E. Team 2008 these five feisty females will fly the flag for young talent in British Hairdressing and a host of golden opportunities await them over the next 12 months in their quest to become the undisputed best.

Adele’s route to the F.A.M.E. Team differs from that of the other girls. As the winner of the Project X Student of the Year initiative, a year-long educational course dubbed the ‘ultimate finishing school for young hairdressers,’ her repertoire of skills already includes photographic work and session work. Adele is extremely focused and has shown she can consistently deliver the goods over a 12-month period. Quietly determined, her signature style is classic with a twist and she likes to look beyond the hair industry for influences in her work. “I consider my main strength to be my cutting ability, but the F.A.M.E. team experience is all about creating the complete hairdresser and I expect my presentation skills to become more polished as well as taking my technical skills to another level. This really is the opportunity of a lifetime and I’m determined to be a good ambassador for British hairdressing.”

Hundreds apply each year for a place on the F.A.M.E. Team, but only a handful succeeds. The rewards are numerous with a year of activity involving access to some of the most influential hairdressers working today, education, photo-shoots, PR opportunities, UK and international shows and events including Hair Expo in Sydney, Australia and culminating with a spectacular ‘farewell’ performance on The Fellowship stage at Salon International. In between gigs the girls will continue to work at their respective salons with the full support and cooperation of their employers who fully grasp what a privilege this is and what benefits it will bring to the salon in the future.

Parallels with the Spice Girls are inevitable. The five F.A.M.E. Team girls seem destined to each bring their own individual fashion sense, a melting pot of popular cultural influences, creative values and cutting techniques to the table. They represent both North and South and the realities of being a young career girl in the Noughties. Collectively they can create a new era of editorial and avant-garde looks reflecting the female perspective on what represents the pinnacle of modern hairdressing excellence.

Adele, Project X Student of the Year and F.A.M.E. Team member, sums it up. “We’ve formerly only known each other as rivals, and the respect for each others work already exists. Now we are really looking forward to becoming friends and collaborators.”