THE EVENT: America’s Beauty Show 2016 at McCormick Place in Chicago, March 12-14.
THE DETAILS: More than 70,000 salon pros and owners, students, educators, product manufacturers and more attended this year’s show. The exhibit hall contained more than 400 companies spanning the entire McCormick West Hall. Noteworthy breakout categories were ABS Nails Central for nail techs and the ABS Barbers Gallery, which featured dozens of workshops and education from a variety of brands.
MODERN once again hosted Healthy Hairdresser Day on Sunday; the first 500 professionals to come by the Healthy Hairdresser booth on Sunday received a Healthy Hairdresser water bottle and goodie bag. Additionally, MODERN hosted ColorFest on Monday to share techniques, trends and tips from elite colorists—plus research from our annual PROCESS supplement.
On Sunday night, BeautyBash was held in a ballroom at McCormick Place. Dancers kicked the night off, Nick Arrojo won the Jerry Gordon Salon Business Leadership Award, and models were presented on stage.
Other new and noteworthy events were TexturedHairFair on Monday, moderated by Michelle Breyer of naturallycurly.com, and the Great Beauty $how Buy Off $ale on Monday, which featured big product discounts for pros.
THE TRENDS:
RETRO
Sexy Hair, American Crew, Candy Coat Beauty Waxingand Beauty & Pinups all focused on era-inspired hair and vintage looks with modern twists. Classics like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley apparently never go out of style!
BARBERING
Last year we saw a big increase in men’s cut, style and color on the show floor, stages and in classrooms, but this year, many educators focused their clippers on women’s cuts. The barber-inclined booths also got noticed with larger-than-life presentations featuring DJs, motorcycle helmets, half-pipes and more.
EXTENSIONS
Keep an eye out for extensions becoming bigger than ever. For another year, this category made its mark on the show floor. Related brands focusing on hair health, thinning hair and scalp concerns also made waves.
SAVE THE DATE: America’s Beauty Show 2017 will be March 25-27, 2017, at McCormick Place in Chicago.
