About 600 people let their hair down in 1988 at a fashion extravaganza staged by Barrow hairdressers Review, with special guests from Vidal Sassoon artistic team.

The ambitious show at Barrow Civic Hall raised more than £2,000 for the hospice for Furness appeal.

Chairman of the Barrow support group for the hospice Joan Baber said: “It was very successful. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it.”

Owner of the Review hairdressing salon Joel Goncalves, who organised the show, said he wanted to produce something that was more than just hairdressers on stage cutting hair.

He got together with his colleague at Review, Lorraine Fittes, and former model Paula Holmes, who owns the Accessory Shop in Scott Street, and they selected 34 models from among their clients and friends and designed clothes for the show.

Paula trained the models in deportment and presentation and her friend Linda Turnough made up the clothes from the designs.

Choreographer Billy Smart, who had choreographed shows at the Hipperdrome and the Albert Hall in London, then taught the models how to move on stage.

“He did a marvellous job, considering the girls were all amateurs,” said Joel.

“And the clothes were brilliant. Everyone was talking about them. Linda has a tremendous talent.

“We also had this idea to dress some of the models in clothes made of crepe paper, so we invited students from Salford College of Technology to design and make them.

“They were very interested in the project and came up with some lovely vibrant clothes. We did some men’s presentations with clothes from Red or Dead, from London.

“We did the first half of the show and Vidal Sassoon, a company I admire very much, did the second half. They brought their own models and clothes. It was a great honour that they agreed to come as our guests.”

The show was augmented by an audio-visual presentation, which included slides being bounced between three large screens, synchronised with music.