Meet Our Judges: Cliphair Bridal Hairstyling Awards 2024

Welcome to Cliphair’s annual Bridal Hairstyling Awards, where we celebrate the crème de la crème of bridal hairstyling talent from around the world. This year, we are thrilled to introduce our panel of distinguished judges who bring a wealth of experience, creativity, and expertise to the table. From working with high-profile clients and fashion houses to educating the next generation of stylists, these industry leaders have done it all. Let’s meet the remarkable individuals who will be evaluating the stunning entries and deciding who will take home the coveted awards this year!

Meet Our Judges

Kasia Fortuna: Best Bridal Look

Credit: @kasia_fortuna

Kasia is one of the most renowned and respected hairstylists in the bridal beauty industry with a large fanbase who follow her every move. She has been styling bridal hair since 2010, teaching since 2016, and is the co-founder and tutor for the Kristina Gasperas Online Academy, which has close to 3,000 professional bridal hairstylist/makeup artist members in over 40 countries.

On the judging panel for the UK’s Wedding Industry Awards and annual Moroccanoil x Eurovision Song Contest ‘Show Us Your Style’ competition, she is also an educator for the Behind the Chair online education portal's BTC University, as well as a regular finalist in their prestigious One Shot Hair Awards.

Kasia teaches courses and masterclasses all over the UK, Europe and the US, including at the Moroccanoil Academy in New York, as well as releasing regular online training tutorials and streaming live sessions. She shares daily hairstyling content on Instagram with her loyal followers of brides-to-be and professional hairstylists, with many of her photoshoots making an appearance in bridal and fashion magazines, as well as catwalk shows, and even royalty.

Zoe Webbe: Best Cliphair Look

Credit: @zwhairmua

After taking a liking to hairstyling at just the age of 14 and running a successful hair styling column in a salon whilst training in Musical Theatre at the Brit School, Zoe is proud to have over 13 years of professional hairstyling experience under her belt.

After deciding Musical Theatre was more of a hobby, and hair and make up a passion, Zoe went on to train at Brushstroke Hair and Make Up School in Shepperton Studios. She has since worked in successful Blowdry Bars: Duck and Dry (Chelsea), Vanity Lounge (Sutton) and Blow Garden (Kent).

In this time, she was privileged enough to have styled hair for the likes of Pippa Middleton and Lottie Moss. Zoe enjoyed a 4-year career as Brand Manager for a new starter blow dry bar, where she represented the salons backstage at London Fashion Week in 2019 alongside Label.M, as well as heading up their Bridal team as Director, in salon as management, Senior Stylist and trainer. Fast forward to January 2022, Zoe took the leap to go solo and concentrate all of her energy into her passion: the wedding industry.

In November 2022, she won Best Hairstylist and Best Newcomer for the South-East region in the prestigious Wedding Industry Awards. Zoe then went on to win National Best Newcomer to the wedding industry a few months later. In 2023, Zoe won Best Hairstyle in Cliphair’s competition where she had the opportunity to demo her signature Glamour Waves at Salon International alongside the brand. 

Since then, Zoe’s passion has recently turned to education. Hosting masterclasses and regular 1 to 1 classes with bridal hair stylists, she loves to share her knowledge and skills with others. Her newest venture is a podcast called ‘Your Bridal Besties’ where she speaks fort-nightly about all things weddings with her MUA friend, Eloise, and guests in the industry. 

Boe Wright: Best Hair Down

Credit: @botiashairandmakeup

After studying Media Hair and Makeup at the London College of Fashion, Boe quickly built her confidence and experience with the public by working in hair salons on the weekends and on prestigious makeup counters. This allowed her to organically fall into a successful freelancing career in the fashion and music industry, providing her with an impressive range of shoots, music videos and commercial campaign opportunities.

After exhibiting her skills as an MUA and hairstylist at a Bridal fayre, Boe realised the depth of her passion for bridal hair and beauty, and is always delighted to travel, meet new people and make her clients’ dreams come true on their special day.

Her career has also taken her globally – allowing her to work with fashion houses and high-end designers such as Chanel and Alexander McQueen, as well as the best suppliers in the wedding industry, and even royalty. Zoe’s work has been featured in publications such as Harper’s BAZAAR, Vogue, Sheerluxe and The Wed.

Hannah Taylor: Best Hair Up

Credit: @hairbyhannahtaylor

Ever since she was a little girl, Hannah Taylor always knew that she wanted to be a hairstylist and began working in a local hair salon at the age of 14, working their full time after leaving school and working there until she was 22. Now with an impressive 17 years of hairstyling experience to her name, Hannah has been specialising in bridal hair for over a decade and dedicates her time to travelling the globe for her bridal parties and educating and inspiring other hairstylists.

Based in Sheffield, Hannah now has her own hair studio, where herself and her dedicated team have also developed in-depth, online hairstyling and bridal hair courses and workshops, with a loyal community of over 1,300 student hairstylists worldwide.

With endless bridal experience and many opportunities working in different wedding locations and environments, Hannah and her team are deeply passionate about making every bride’s getting ready process completely stress-free, with a mission to make their special day as magical as possible.

Kim Annesley: Best Half Up Half Down

Credit: @kimannesley.hair

Kim Annesley is one of the most desired wedding and bridal hair specialists there on the wedding scene, with countless delighted clients and five-star reviews to her name. Based in Holywood, County Down in Northern Ireland, Kim’s signature styles are described as “effortlessly beautiful, modern and relaxed”.

From glamorous waves to effortless looking updos, Kim’s work has been featured in numerous blogs and respected publications such as Rock My Wedding, One Fab Day, Rock ‘n Roll Bride, Ulster Tatler and many more.

She has won numerous awards over the years, most notably: Winner of Hair Business of the Year and Northern Ireland Beauty Excellence Awards 2023. Kim was also awarded 4th place for Best Bridal Hair at the UK Hair and Beauty Awards 2022 and was placed in the Top 5 at the worldwide Behind The Chair One Shot Hair Awards 2022.

Liz Cooper: Best Braid

Credit: @theartfulhairstylist

After kickstarting her career as a freelancer over a decade ago, Liz Cooper is now an award-winning hairstylist known for her love of everything ‘boho’. Free-spirited, meticulous and fuelled by her desire to create, Liz has a love of dried flowers, floral accessories, and is deeply inspired by the nature around her, particularly from her bridal boutique nestled away in a log cabin in Southdown’s National Park in Catherington, Hampshire.

Fast forward to today, Liz has now handed over the baton and is educating other aspiring boho hairstylists through online and one-to-one workshops. Specialising in creating textured, voluminous hair looks for all hair types, Liz also incorporates the use of hair extensions and cruelty-free, Vegan hairstyling products to ensure every bride is instilled with confidence, radiate the beauty that they have within, and is completely comfortable regarding both their appearance, and their ethics.

Olga Markuse: Best Ponytail

Credit: @bridal_hairstylist

Olga is an established bridal hairstylist and wedding hair educator based in the UK. Hair has been Olga's hobby and inspiration since early childhood, many years before becoming a full-time job. The way the right hairstyle can change people's mood and how they feel and present themselves fascinates Olga and drives her ambition to acquire new techniques and also share them with her students. 

Specialising in elegant, carefully curated hair and makeup looks for brides, Olga has been heavily inspired by timeless icons such as Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly, seamlessly blending the past and present to make her clients’ hair dreams a reality. With a mission to bring out her clients’ best features, she believes that the best sign that your hair looks right is when you feel completely at ease and are able to leave the house and completely forget about it.

Stay Tuned

Our esteemed judges represent the pinnacle of bridal hairstyling excellence, bringing diverse experiences and a shared passion for beauty and creativity. We are honoured to have them on board and excited to see the incredible talent that this year’s competition will showcase. Stay tuned for more updates, behind-the-scenes insights, and the announcement of our winners!

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