Live Fashion Hair Stages 2026 Awards at Brooklyn Debut and Tenerife Return

Live Fashion Hair has logged more than 3,300 entries from over 30 countries for its 2026 awards, with New York hosting the platform's first American Edition on September 20 at The Davines Group House in Brooklyn.

The Brooklyn date anchors the LIVE026 American Edition, a new stop on a circuit that also returns to Spain for the LIVE026 Global Edition at Espacio Mutua Tinerfeña in Tenerife on October 18. Both events run in alliance with the Booksy Live Fashion Awards, pairing Live Fashion Hair's avant-garde technical competition against awards that recognise beauty professionals building brands and industry visibility.

For salon owners and stylists weighing travel budgets, the two-city calendar compresses an international competition footprint into two transatlantic windows within roughly four weeks. That cadence gives U.S. licensees an accessible North American arena in their own time zone before the longer-haul Tenerife commitment lands a month later.

Which categories will the jury judge?

Awards span hairdressing, barbering, styling, colour and nails:

• Men's Hairdresser of the Year
• Commercial Female
• Creative Colorist
• Avant-Garde and Editorial
• Best Fade
• Best Free Style
• Best in Hair Styling
• Best in Colour Design
• Best Classic Manicure
• Best Creative Manicure

Live Fashion Hair has published the shortlist across the LIVE026 Global, LIVE026 Americas, BLFA026 European and BLFA026 Americas programmes at livefashionhair.com. The breakdown lets competing stylists target a single category that maps onto a specific service line in the chair, from a high-volume fade clientele to a corrective-colour book.

What does the Brooklyn debut offer stylists?

The American Edition opens inside The Davines Group House, the Brooklyn facility operated by the Italian professional haircare brand Davines. Hosting the show inside the group's flagship U.S. space places finalists steps from product launches, brand activations and education programming that Davines regularly directs at licensed stylists. Booksy, the appointment-software company underwriting the parallel BLFA026 Americas Edition, supplies the business-side mirror to Live Fashion Hair's creative platform — a useful pairing for stylists weighing whether competition exposure converts into measurable client growth.

Who is teaching on the 2026 slate?

Masterclass formats return as the educational spine of both stops. Educators confirmed for 2026 include Byrd Mena, Joel Torres and Simone Petinatti. Runway presentations previously associated with Live Fashion Hair will stage again in both cities. The Tenerife production will pair stylist Peter Gray and Giuseppe Stelitano with emerging and established Spanish fashion designers, supported by Comercio de Tenerife.

What is the play for working professionals?

For stylists weighing attendance, the platform offers two distinct value propositions in a single buying decision: creative competition through Live Fashion Hair, and profile-and-business recognition through the Booksy Live Fashion Awards components. Educators on the masterclass roster carry independent followings in editorial, barbering and corrective colour, which gives attendees portfolio-grade technique exposure rather than purely branded positioning.

For salon owners, sending one or two team members to a multi-day education-plus-competition setting typically replaces two or three separate training expenditures with a single line item, especially when the venue bundles product access and runway entry.

The American Edition will open at The Davines Group House in Brooklyn on September 20, 2026. The Tenerife Global Edition follows at Espacio Mutua Tinerfeña on October 18. Finalist rosters and ticket information run live at livefashionhair.com.