ghd official AFI Awards hair styling partner
Hair directed by Caterina DiBiase for ghd
Roll out the red carpet! Following a successful collaboration with the Inside Film Awards in November, leading hair beauty brand ghd has also dominated the biggest film event of 2009, becoming the major partner of the industry's longest running awards ceremony, the AFI's.
The who's who of Australian film and television descended upon Melbourne on Saturday 12th December for the 51st annual AFI Awards. When it came to red carpet styling, celebrities looked no further than the tool that can transform their locks into paparazzi perfect hair - ghd!
ghd hair director and Australian Hairdresser of the Year, Caterina DiBiase, lead a team of ghd stylists who ensured all presenters, nominees and special guests at the awards were sporting glamorous looks for their red carpet debut.
Celebrities, including favourites Kate Richie, Sophie Lowe, and Frances O'Connor, plus up-and-comings Marissa Gibson and Kathryn Beck, first made their way to the exclusive ghd style lounge at the Langham Hotel, opting for classic, chic styles, before gracing the multitudes of snapping photographers at the red carpet arrivals.
ghd then went backstage at the Regent Theatre, touching up award presenters including Toni Colette, Catherine Martin, Rachel Ward and Anthony LaPaglia before their on-stage debut.
While Anthony LaPaglia and Frances O'Connor snatched the best actor and actress awards, it was Warwick Thornton's critically acclaimed, Cannes' Camera d'Or-winning masterpiece, Samson & Delilah, that scooped the pool of prizes, winning Best Film, Best Direction, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Sound and Member's Choice Award.
Newcomers Marissa Gibson and Rowan McNamara jointly won the Young Actor Award for their compelling performances. See bottom of release for the full list of winners.
Caterina DiBiase explains how she created key looks from the event:
Kate Ritchie
Kate's style was very polished, sleek and sophisticated - her whole look was very glamorous.
Her hair was pulled back into a low ponytail using ghd obedience cream to control the hair and give a smooth texture, and then ghd reflection spray was spritzed through hair for a beautiful final shine.
The pony tail was then smoothed through with a ghd IV styler and the hair wrapped up and pinned into a wide bun, held securely in place with pins and finished with ghd ultimate hairspray.
Tip: apply ghd reflection spray to hair before styling with the ghd styler to achieve a reflective, shiny finish to the hair.
Kathryn Beck
Kathryn wore a gorgeous silk off the shoulder gown so we opted for a soft, loose, vintage feel for her look.
Kathryn's hair required a lot of body to hold the look. Before styling ghd maximise mousse was applied throughout the hair and then blow dried through to give the hair some volume and texture. ghd fat hair lotion was also applied throughout mid-lengths to ends and a small amount of ghd uplift spray was sprayed through the roots to give the hair extra height.
The hair was sprayed with ghd creation spray then pin-set-curled using a ghd IV styler.
Once cool, the pins were removed and the curls were softly brushed through and swept around to the side. Hair was then loosely pinned up in sections and set with ghd ultimate hair spray.
Tip for curling: Always use ghd creation spray! Lightly mist through hair before creating curls with the ghd IV styler and the hair will retain the curl for twice as long.
Sophie Lowe
Sophie's look was classic elegance and glamour... she could have been walking the red carpet at the Oscars!
The back of Sophie's dress was a definite feature so we wanted to pull her hair up so as not to detract from the dress but still make a subtle statement of its own.
ghd maximise mousse was blow-dried through the mid-lengths to ends of Sophie's hair and then ghd texture lotion was applied throughout the hair to give a nice smoothed textured with extra hold.
The hair was pulled back tightly into a slicked ponytail - the key to getting a very tight ponytail that will stay in place is to do it in sections. At the back of the head create a small pony tail (using the bulk/middle section of hair) and tie in place. Then sweep back sections of hair from the inside out and tie around the core pony tail - Sophie's ponytail was created with four separate ties.
Once the ponytail was in place the hair was backcombed from the roots back to smooth it out then the remaining part of the ponytail was swept up and wrapped into a full bun.
Tip: Spend time getting the ponytail right as this will anchor the whole look but don't be too precious when creating the bun! Just loosely sweep it up and then pin in place. Set using ghd ultimate hairspray.
The 2009 Samsung Mobile AFI Award winners are:
SAMSUNG MOBILE AFI AWARD FOR BEST FILM: Samson & Delilah. Kath Shelper
AFI AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTION: Samson & Delilah. Warwick Thornton
MACQUARIE AFI AWARD FOR BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Samson & Delilah. Warwick Thornton
MACQUARIE AFI AWARD FOR BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Balibo. David Williamson, Robert Connolly
AFI AWARD FOR BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE: Mao's Last Dancer. Christopher Gordon
AFI AWARD FOR BEST LEAD ACTOR: Anthony LaPaglia. Balibo
AFI AWARD FOR BEST LEAD ACTRESS: Frances O'Connor. Blessed
AFI AWARD FOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Oscar Isaac. Balibo
AFI AWARD FOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Rachel Griffiths. Beautiful Kate
AFI AWARD FOR BEST TELEVISION DRAMA SERIES: East West 101, Season 2. Kristine Wyld, Steve Knapman. SBS
AFI AWARD FOR BEST TELEFEATURE, MINI SERIES OR SHORT RUN SERIES: False Witness. Greg Haddrick, Peter Andrikidis. UKTV
AFI AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTION IN TELEVISION: East West 101, Season 2 (Episode 13, Atonement). Peter Andrikidis. SBS
AFI AWARD FOR BEST SCREENPLAY IN TELEVISION: Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities (Episode 11, The Brotherhood). Kris Mrksa. Nine Network
AFI AWARD FOR BEST LEAD ACTOR IN A TELEVISION DRAMA: Roy Billing. Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities. Nine Network
AFI AWARD FOR BEST LEAD ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION DRAMA: Susie Porter. East West 101, Season 2. SBS
AFI AWARD FOR BEST GUEST OR SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A TELEVISION DRAMA: Damian de Montemas. Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities (Episode 11, The Brotherhood). Nine Network
AFI AWARD FOR BEST GUEST OR SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION DRAMA: Anni Finsterer. 3 Acts of Murder. ABC1
AFI AWARD FOR BEST FEATURE LENGTH DOCUMENTARY: Glass: a portrait of Philip in twelve parts. Scott Hicks, Susanne Preissler
AFI YOUNG ACTOR AWARD: Marissa Gibson & Rowan McNamara. Samson & Delilah
BYRON KENNEDY AWARD: Ray Brown
NEWS LIMITED READERS' CHOICE AWARD: Mao's Last Dancer. Jane Scott
AFI INTERNATIONAL AWARD FOR BEST ACTOR: Russell Crowe. State of Play
AFI INTERNATIONAL AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS: Toni Collette. United States of Tara. ABC1
AFI HIGHEST GROSSING FILM AWARD: Australia. Marc Wooldridge, Baz Luhrmann, G. Mac Brown, Catherine Knapman, Stuart Beattie, Ronald Harwood, Richard Flanagan