Star stylists cut a dash at show

A glitzy fashion show held in aid of a Black Country charity saw Wolverhampton’s hairdressers to the stars going back to their roots.

Royston Blythe and Nick Malenko were among dozens of businesses showing off their best styles and clothes of the season to help Beacon Centre for the Blind. Last night’s Fashion Fantasia was to raise funds for the charity’s Second Site appeal which will see £18million spent on 71 flats and homes for blind and partially sighted people to rent or buy.

The scheme is due to be ready in 2009 but Beacon Centre needs to raise around £2.4million itself to supplement funds from the Government and other organisations.

The event at the Ramada Park Hall Hotel in Goldthorn Park opened with a circus skills performance by Impact Artists followed by The Fashion Show Company from Finchfield, which brought around a dozen models to show clothes from Beatties, The Rocking Horse, La Pinza, The Loft, Jatino, Coconut Couture, Vanessa Clarke and Kandola Couture.

There were also performances from Dance 2gether, a Great Wyrley-based dance school for children and teenagers.

Royston Blythe and Nick Malenko, whose Compton salon has styled the hair of Atomic Kittens Natasha Hamilton and Kerry Katona, Rachel Hunter, Jordan and the original Bond girl Ursula Andress, have not performed a show of this kind in Wolverhampton for more than 20 years.

Royston said: “We support charity in a big way and this is a great local charity which can tend to get a little bit forgotten.

“We’ve put on shows in India, Korea and all over the world but it’s been a long time since we have done one here.”

More than 370 people booked spaces for the event.

Jill Russell, aged 44, from Tettenhall, came to see her 15-year-old daughter Lauren, a pupil at Wolverhampton Girls High School, on the catwalk.

She said: “I’m very proud of her. This is the very first time she’s done something like this and it’s all in a good cause.”

Beacon Centre chairman Mollie Mackelworth said: “This is our first big occasion to raise money for our appeal.

“The turnout for this is wonderful. We could barely have fit any more tables in.”