Anniss+Barton bring avant-garde ballet to life for AHIA Hair Awards Campaign

Avant-Garde Collection by Emma Boyle — Captured by Anniss+Barton

We teamed up with visionary hair artist Emma Boyle to bring her latest avant-garde collection to life, now one of six national finalists in the 2025 Australian Hair Industry Awards. The concept: Ballet with a twist , a surreal, character-led interpretation of classical forms, where hair becomes the centrepiece of emotion, elegance, and edge.

This was not a fashion shoot. This was hair at its most imaginative — sculptural, expressive, and entirely unbound by convention. Every look was engineered to surprise, provoke, and perform. From gravity-defying silhouettes to distorted proportions and feather-light textures, the hair work was the true storytelling device — with beauty and styling designed only to support its presence.

Shot at the hauntingly beautiful Abbotsford Convent, the location added a textured, timeworn backdrop that heightened the theatrical tone of the collection. The space gave each image a sense of quiet drama, a stage for these visual characters to exist in their own imagined world.

Working closely with Emma and her team, we focused on bringing each look to life in camera using movement, posture, and lighting to enhance the artistry of the hair. We approached the shoot more like a performance than a photo session, letting the imagery feel alive, poetic, and slightly off-centre.

The result is a bold and original entry into the AHIA Avant-Garde category, one that celebrates risk-taking, technical mastery, and creative vision. The winning collection will be announced at the awards night next month, and we’re proud to have played a part in capturing something this inventive and unapologetic.