Global Creative Awards 2025: Editorial Category Highlights from Milan

The annual Goldwell Global Creative Awards hair competition offers an incredible opportunity for stylists worldwide to create their own vision and showcase their talent on a global platform.

Five exciting categories were offered. Along with the three technical categories, Goldwell offers two editorial categories. Stylists competed globally in this photo-only international competition:

• Avant Garde stylist of the year

Pure unbridled creativity. Pushing the boundaries of conventional hairstyling and daring to inspire with your visionary work.

• Men’s hairstylist of the year

Stylists showed their mastery and expertise in men’s styling, barbering, and grooming by creating a cutting-edge men’s look.

Entries were to be original and newly created for this competition. All qualified stylists who are active Goldwell KMS customers, or work in a Goldwell/KMS salon, were eligible to enter.

The judging criteria were:

• Creativity and originality

Innovative use of color to enhance style

Diversity of look

• Technical execution

Harmony of cut, color and style

• Total look

Appearance of the overall look (hair, make-up and fashion)

Professionalism and aesthetic of model and photography

Since this is an editorial photo collection, our stylists and barbers had to think about the editorial nature of their work. Would their entry fit into a top fashion magazine? Does it showcase originality and creativity? The key here is to create an entry of all-round professionalism.

All photographs were judged anonymously and independently - judges were unable to see the names or salon names of the entrants.

Prizes won per category on the global level:

An international gold/silver/bronze trophy, a cash prize of E 2,500, global exposure- a profile on social media about the stylist and the entry, plus worldwide press and editorial coverage.

This year’s winners were announced at Colorsphere 2025 in Milan:

EDITORIAL CATEGORIES:

// men’s hairstylist of the year – 2025:

GOLD: Fiona Machaz, MD Hair Atelier, Switzerland

SILVER: Benson Ku, N.BORN,Taiwan

BRONZE: Mira Pitkänen, Hiusstudio Art, Finland

// avant garde stylist of the year – 2025:

GOLD: Heng Meng Hui, Decrypt Hairdressing, Malaysia

SILVER: Zoe O’Day, The Upper Hand, United States

BRONZE: Carlos Alvarez, Trademark Salon, United States

An honourable mention goes to our 2 South African entries into the Editorial Avant Garde category:

Takalani Mabobo from C.Jay’s Hair Salon in Louis Trichardt, Limpopo

Farzaanah Abrahams from Coiffure Ezra in Cape Town

Congratulations to the winners of the Editorial Categories at Goldwell’s Global Creative Awards, Milan 2025!

For further information, visit www.globalcreativeawards.com