A look to the past, to better understand the present and foresee the future.

60 years ago editor Mino Pissimiglia had a vision… to create an international magazine network dedicated to the hair industry. This has become the strength and focus of ESTETICA – to speak, with an international voice, directly to hairdressers. After 23 editions, ESTETICA established itself as the leading magazine worldwide. 18 of these were set up in the last 15 years, giving testimony to the escalating success of the “Estetica formula”. ESTETICA has therefore become a privileged witness to the evolution of hairstyling and fashion.

Topco Media Pty Ltd was extremely proud to obtain the license to publish ESTETICA in South Africa. Although the African continent was served through the edition ESTETICA World, the enormous potential of the South African coiffure sector dictated the need for an edition all its own.

The long and successful relationships that exist between Italy and its 22 other worldwide editions of ESTETICA were obviously a huge incentive to acquire the license to publish ESTETICA here. The international connection provides a wealth of inspiration, and the backing of a warm, positive and highly knowledgeable Italian publishing team.

While ESTETICA is the globally recognised media leader in the field of hair fashion, judging by the state of our own hair fashion industry the South African edition will indeed be world-class. And we can never forget that ESTETICA South Africa exists primarily due to the overwhelming demand for it by our local industry.

Since we announced the launch of ESTETICA South Africa, we have been inundated with positive feedback and anticipation by subscribers, advertisers and hairdressers alike. The forthcoming editions are beautiful, exciting and will speak with a new voice - ever more international - for both well-established and up-and-coming hairdressers who want to keep a finger on the pulse of global trends.

 

 

ESTETICA Timeline 1940 to 2008

ESTETICA 1946

March 1946: the first issue of Estetica came out in Turin, a magazine destined to become a worldwide industry leader.

1946

The first Estetica held an advert for Vesta, a gadget for perming and setting hair without the use of electricity (a situation ever more frequent in the post-war period). But how was it possible to sell it, if nobody even knew it existed? A magazine for updating hairdressers was lacking. Estetica saw the light and filled the gap – the genius intuition was of Mino Pissimiglia, founder and forerunner of a Turin-born success story.

1949

Turin saw the first International Hairdressing Show as well as the first Cosmetics and Perfumery Show. In those years, Estetica was already present at the fairs with a highly original stand. At the same time, it was producing a technical supplement – the Newsletter. Inside was information, news and advertising from the industry. January 1949 – only three years after its creation, Estetica had doubled.

1950

On the Estetica covers of the 50’s, photographs alternated with drawings by wonderful artists such as Piccinelli, Tonarelli, Stroppa and Paul Valentine. Mino Pissimiglia commissioned the artists’ drawings, as well as selecting the fashions and hairstyles featured. Today, the cover pictures, inside designs and much of the advertising of that time represents an inestimable artistic value, symbols of the past which still evoke nostalgic memories today.

1955

In August 1955, the cover of Estetica showed a charming young actress, at the outset of her career. This was Liz Taylor, still today an icon of beauty. In those years, the artwork was entrusted to Checco Acqualagna. His great precision in drawing out even the headings freehand resulted in different characteristics, following the creativity of his pen.

1957

The posters and album pages have always been a distinctive feature of the magazine. The first album (like the first poster) dates back to 1957. It was dedicated to Italian Fashion, a visionary choice in a period where France occupied first place both in the fashion and hairdressing fields. The hairdressers often cut out pages to decorate their shops, or provided picture presentation books to clients from which they could choose their favourite style.

1958

In this period Estetica began to scale the heights at a worldwide level. 1958 saw the signing of the contract which conferred circulation rights in Japan. This business meeting took place in the Hotel Principi di Piemonte in Turin and the first Japanese cover came out with the trademark of its distributor, Mr. Hyakunichiso. The Tokyo edition was an immediate success – the Japanese were extremely interested in Western fashion.

1962-63

The expansion into foreign markets represented a gratifying project, which Mino Pissimiglia welcomed with attention, energy and his usual longsighted vision. It was further encouraged by the economic boom of the early Sixties, a thrilling period for the Italians. In ’62, the “Peru and Latin America” Estetica edition took off, and the following year saw the Arab language supplement for the Iran and Middle East markets. The era of globalisation was just beginning.

1965

The Sixties preferred news with an international taste. The United States exported the Jackie Kennedy look, England offered the Beatles’ style. France went crazy for wigs and hairpieces, whilst Italy was invaded by a passion for teasing back hair, a fad deriving from the “nanette” style launched in Turin by the High Fashion Italian Hairdressing Centre. Increased volumes, bigger heads and Estetica was exporting the big names in hairdressing, dedicating to them much of their glossy and ever-more elegant pages.

1968

As the younger generation started to rebel, Estetica moved towards a freer hairstyling, a more streetwise fashion. “The cut is everything” declared Vidal Sassoon whilst he cut hair with absolute geometric precision, almost like a surgeon. From France came an echo of this view from a young upcoming hairstylist called Jean Louis David, soon-to-be star of both the “wild” look and a string of his own salons.

1971

Estetica celebrated a special “silver-wedding” anniversary with hairdressers from all over the world, in a special edition. Inside, Mino Pissimiglia, with his beloved wife and partner Olga alongside, told the story of how his now-cult magazine was created and with what principles. The original headquarters is still in Via Cavour, just steps away from the Valentino Park, a famous Turin area. For this twenty-fifth anniversary, Estetica adopted a silver cover, doubled its pages and told the story of its success.

1977

In January 1977, Estetica came out in a bilingual English-Italian edition. The more technical and professional topics were collected in a special section of the magazine, first called NewsLetter and later Hairdressing Professional and Italy Special. The unified version proved a winning formula with its particular appeal which rendered Estetica unique for the format and number of pages. Inside, space began to be dedicated to news from the professional beauty world and to reports on shows and seminars which were beginning to flood the hairfashion world.

1978

Interest in the international markets was increasing – apart from the bilingual editions, text translations were introduced in French, Spanish and German. Belgian readers were even kept happy with a Fleming version. Estetica plunged into preparations for the 1978 Cosmoprof, with a 78-page issue, a record for a magazine in this sector, a credit to Italian hairdressers. From all over the world, messages of appreciation started to arrive, congratulating the magazine for its ever-more refined graphics and photography.

1979

The family company welcomed Roberto Pissimiglia, who soon became head of Sales and Marketing. He was the first one to create a sales network for advertising space. He put his innovative stamp on the magazine to make it rise even higher in international circles, mixing with the biggest names in the hairdressing world. At his side was (and is) his sister Gabriella, who soon became head of administrative operations.

1984

The experience of Estetica brought about the birth of Grandhair, the hairdressing magazine for women, with 24,000 king-size copies distributed to hairdressing salons. Grandhair represented a new exclusive style of sending hair-messages to all its clients. The first cover featured Maria Giovanni Elmi, who also attended the Estetica stand that year at Cosmoprof.

1986

The March/April edition of 1986 marked Estetica’s fortieth birthday. Great celebrations took place at Cosmoprof in Bologna, where the most memorable front cover pages were put on display. Heading the magazine – Roberto Pissimiglia, who stepped into his father’s shoes. The raging Eighties saw Estetica taking its place at the top of the field in a worldwide context, with publications in over sixty countries. Inside, three sections – Hairfashion, Professional and Beauty.

1988-89

Thanks to a series of dynamic editorial and commercial ideas, Estetica now reached its target of tripling its turnover in just five years. Publimatic was born and the publication Zeffiro was acquired, which was re-introduced in 1989 after restyling of graphics and contents. Management of Zeffiro was handed over to Paola Gallotti, Roberto’s wife and experienced journalist in the field, who was already a collaborator with Estetica and Beauty Special of the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

1991

Expansion into foreign markets did not preclude strengthening of the Italian market position, thanks also to the purchasing of Studio, the third magazine of the Group. This achievement was significant also because it took place in a period of industry depression with the hair products industry at a standstill. The mission of Studio to communicate with women became even more clearly defined, due to its placement in hairdressing salons.

1991-1993

The project “Estetica Network” debuted. In England, the first office and first European edition of Estetica was inaugurated. In the two following years – in accordance with the business plan devised by the publishing director and international publishing experts – issues were introduced in the two strategic countries of Germany and France (buying the name and Parisian style of Coiffure & Styles, the French hairdressing journal). The US, Spain and Mexico all followed.

1995-1996

The Publimatic Service Division was born, formed by a staff of communication experts who offered their expertise in creating editorial products, advertising, organising of photo and video sessions. Also, fashion, tourism and perfumery brands turned to this structure to develop marketing and communication projects. On the multimedia front, a new challenge emerged – Estetica on-line.

1996

For the fiftieth anniversary of Estetica, a retrospective display show was put on at the Cosmoprof in Bologna, celebrating half a century of female beauty. One hundred painstakingly-chosen photos which make their mark in the history of hairdressing were on show, selected from over 150,000 printed by Estetica and collected together in the Art Book (put together as a precious catalogue of the show). The event was repeated in Paris with similar success. Also taking part in the event was the Minister of Culture of the time.

1999

The Pacific market became the new strategic target. Estetica expanded into Australia where a new office was opened for marketing and distribution, as in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan. The first Asian Estetica edition appeared in Korea. The Korean success was remarkable – in under four years, Estetica increased from four to twelve annual issues and sales (also from newsstands) rose to 30,000 copies. The licensing formula worked – the first surveys began in the Russian and East European markets.

2000

With the arrival of the Third Millenium, Estetica revised its image with a targeted graphics restyling, and went to Paris to receive the Best Photo Award from the Fédération Spécialisée, an authority in specialised publications. The photos, by internationally famous stylists, are the essential business card for those in the beauty world. The new millennium wa celebrated by Estetica with a calendar created with an exclusive printing technique “silver lamina”.

2002

Estetica took off to even further destinations, such as China and Turkey, where business talks took place regarding local editions. In this period, EsteticaPocket was born, adopted also by the newborn Turkish edition, a way of experimenting new formats and referring directly to women. The number of publications produced by Publimatic (including both trade and consumer publications) rose to 25, in addition to over 100 projects produced for third parties.

2003

EsteticaDesign arrived on the scene, a twice-yearly magazine distributed internationally in three editions, which features the world of design with particular reference to interior design in trendy salons and spas. The inauguration took place in the prestigious Palais de Tokyo in Paris, attended by seven hundred guests from the worlds of architecture, interior design, art galleries, advertising, and the Press, not to mention the most famous French hairdressers. Following this success, the EsteticaDesign Award was established, an award for the best salon design in the world. At the 2005 finals, two ex aequo salons were awarded the prize from amongst nine finalists, in an evening ceremony at the splendid Palais des Festivals in Cannes.

2004

“The biggest event in the history of hairdressing” is how NextLook Night was defined, celebrated at the Cosmoprof 2004 and bringing together the most important worldwide hairdressers in front of a prestigious gathering of VIPs from the fashion and showbiz worlds. Estetica planned and organised the event, together with Sogecos. A few months later, Estetica was again protagonist of another international event, staged at the Houses of Parliament in London but arriving from the idea of the Californian university UCLA and genius of Paula Kent Mehan. This was the Global Salon Business Awards, an award for the salons or chains which best demonstrated management and business skills. Yet again, thousand of hairdressers joined together at an international event which featured Estetica.

2005

Estetica took 18 editions to Cosmoprof in Bologna, a record for an industry publication. Incredible statistics – over 230,000 copies, distribution in 64 countries, 17 operating offices, a specialised staff with one hundred communication professionals.

2006

Sixty years old and looking good. Over the last decades, Estetica has constantly renewed itself, both at a graphics level and in its contents, to keep its worldwide public happy. The celebratory issue of January 2006 is the first step in a project directed at the collection and safekeeping of the heritage of pictures, events, techniques and ideas produced in the world of hairdressing. Estetica thus confirms its status as a “historic testimony of our industry”.