Holly Rudge and Judith Hancock from Indigo Rye ended their L'Oréal Colour Trophy journey on a high, picking up second place in the prestigious hairdressing competition and an overall win of the Southern region. The talented team produced a stunning style that was influenced by the romantic trends seen on Autumn/Winter 07 catwalks. Glossy, gorgeous and ultra-sophisticated, their looks set to be a big hit with style conscious clients in their Wallingford based salon.

Over 1,200 of the world's top hairdressers applauded as Holly, Judith and salon owner Karen Kennedy collected their award from the evening's ultra-fashionable presenter Fearne Cotton and hairdressing guru Charlie Miller. Stylist Holly and colourist Judith were delighted with the result, speaking moments after they came off stage they said; "This is such an amazing achievement, it's too much to take in! We are over the moon."

Talent, drive and determination saw them through three tough rounds of the competition which started way back in March. Over 1,200 salon teams entered, 350 Regional Finalists were short-listed; with 45 Regional Finalists selected to compete at the Grand Final.

Indigo Rye was one of three teams representing the Midlands region on the day of the Grand Final. Under the brief 'hair inspired by fashion' they spent 2.5 hours colouring, coiffing and styling their model to perfection before a host of hairdressing legends were brought in to judge their work.

The model from Indigo Rye wore a spectacular floor-length dress by Marc Jacobs. Holly and Judith explain the thinking behind their striking image: "We went for a romantic theme with the clothes styling and balanced the floaty layered look with a neat hair cut and natural, understated colour to give maximum shine. The overall style made a strong impact on the catwalk with its heavy fringe and round shape."

TV favourites Richard Ward, Charles Worthington and Trevor Sorbie were among the panel of industry peers deliberating over who should be in the winning line-up. They agreed that the salon team of Holly and Judith had met the brief to reflect Autumn/Winter 07 trends as set by L'Oréal Professionnel.

Unaware of their fate, competitors and their supporters made their way to the spectacular Grand Final event at Earls Court 2 where they watched their model stride out onto the catwalk. Throughout the evening there were stunning shows by Zoë Irwin for Headmasters and Tim Hartley in addition to an exclusive preview of fashion designer Aimee McWilliams' Autumn/Winter 07 collection.

After a nail-biting wait it was time to start revealing the winning teams. In the first round of awards, Indigo Rye was named as Midlands Regional Winner of the L'Oréal Colour Trophy.  Then, later in the evening they were awarded second place in the overall national competition. Upon hearing their name read out there was disbelief then delight and the cheers from their supporters could be heard across London!

"So much work goes into competing in the L'Oréal Colour Trophy and the girls have done an incredible job to win this award," explains salon owner Karen Kennedy. "We loved the whole experience from start to finish and can't wait to share our inspiration with our clients."

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