Solihull College & University Centre hair and media make up students recently attended a glitzy high-end charity event to provide their services. The ‘Strictly 9-5 goes to the Movies’ charity event for No5 Barristers Chambers was held at the ICC. Students provided hair and make-up for dancers and non-dancers alike at the event proving themselves efficient and capable in a high-pressure event environment.
10 professional dancers teamed up with 10 novices from the legal profession to dance before attendees in a Strictly-style showdown. Judged by industry experts including Ola and James Jordan the event was hosted by Strictly’s very own Brendan Cole. Commercial litigator Siona Spillitt of Fieldfisher, and her teenage professional dance partner Joshua Adams, lifted the glitterball Strictly 9 to 5 trophy.
The College’s Head of Retail and Commercial Sara Sweeney stated ‘our students really rose to this challenge, this was high end, real life work experience that really stretched our students, but it all came together beautifully. It was a great way to end the course on the last day of term’.
The event had sponsored raffle prizes with raffle tickets hidden in balloons attached to chairs, all to raise money for two children’s charities including the Child Brain Injury Trust and Whizz-Kidz. 9 students consisting of Level 3 hairdressing and Level 2 media make-up students from the college arrived early with tutors Katie Miller and Maria Manoochehri. After setting up respective areas for the evening they had to ensure all models were camera and performance-ready by 6pm. With more than 400 paying guests in attendance and 2 giant screens no hair could be out of place. The students watched a few of the rehearsals to further ascertain their brief. They examined headshots and chatted with the models to provide individually tailored high glamour make-up and hair that complemented the strictly sparkle outfits of each contestant.
The event taught the students time management skills and how to create high quality, high glamour in a condensed time period. Accessories were also included in some updos and students worked together to assist one another in creating the perfect look for each contestant and dancer.
The event was a huge success raising £30,000 for the two children’s charities.
Find out more about Solihull College & University Centre’s Hair & Media Make-Up courses.
