P&G Beauty & Grooming Experts debate the future of beauty
culture's editor Jenny Burns dishes the dirt on Singapore's P&G Beauty & Grooming annual beauty debate.
Whilst many of us were still clearing the Christmas cheer from our minds, those busy folk at Procter & Gamble were preparing to welcome the new year with a bang by putting the final touches on the P&G Beauty & Grooming annual beauty debate, which was held at the beautiful Capella resort on Sentosa Island, Singapore, from 17-19 January. Entitled ‘Supermodel Me’, the conference had nothing to do with how to transform us mere mortals into six-foot tall glamazon freaks of nature (unfortunately), but was a fascinating insight from the company’s leading scientists and lifestyle trend experts on their beauty vision for the future.
More than 120 media and guests from the Asia Pacific region – including culture Editor Burns – spent three days listening to a bevy of P&G experts discuss the outlook ahead for the beauty industry. One of the key subjects covered was the fascinating concept of ‘holistic modelling’ and how it represents the next wave of innovation in the way P&G B&G designs its beauty and grooming portfolio, which includes global brands such as Wella Professionals, Pantene, Head & Shoulders, SKII and Olay. ‘Modelling’ uses the simplest definition of a model – a way of representing and predicting reality – and takes the results of different experiments to find the connections between them. By using sophisticated computing power, scientists are able to generate, store and manipulate this data to create ‘supermodels’. Therefore, as a result of this modelling technology, the multitude of scientists at P&G (apparently they have more than NASA) are able to create products with superior selectivity and more targeted performance, without any trade-offs.
The other main topic on the event agenda was the evolution of global trends – in particular, how by drawing inspiration from art, design, architecture, fashion and the natural environment, P&G B&G traces the pulse of lifestyle trends and uses these to illuminate the future of beauty and shape how technologies are used to answer tomorrow’s beauty and grooming questions. Four of the key trends that the company envisions as having the greatest influence in shaping beauty and fashion movements for spring/summer 2012 were presented by two of Wella Professionals’ leading men and the names on everybody’s lips – session genius Eugene Souleiman and expert colourist Josh Woods, both Global Creative Directors for Wella Professionals. Undoubtedly two of the most influential hair stylists and trend setters of our time, the dynamic duo spoke in detail of the influences that led to the creation of the four trends that are the stars of the 2012 Wella Trend Vision Competition – Celeste, Grace, Roxy and Blaze - each with its own mood and personality and accompanied by models that the pair had been working on from a cut, colour and styling perspective that truly personified each of the looks.
Check out our Mane Event feature in culture’s Feb/March issue for a comprehensive rundown on the P&G Beauty and Grooming event in Singapore and a roundup of Wella Trend Vision 2012, including details on each of the competition’s key trends. And stay tuned on cultureTV for more exclusive footage from Singapore, where we caught up with homegrown hair heroes Marie Uva and Jessica Lean strutting their considerable talents at the event PLUS our up close and personal interviews with session legend Eugene Souleiman and colour maestro Josh Woods.