March 10, 1999
Stylish & sleek hair show sizzles
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Traverse City residents got a taste of New York style, flash and sizzle at the Global Collection hair runway shows Friday night at the Park Place Dome, sponsored by the Impres Salon. A seamless merging of art, high fashion and hair styling, the dazzling costumes, heaped 'dos' and sleek styles wowed a packed crowd for two shows.
Women in sculpted hair creations three feet high followed men in tight tank tops and full-length leather skirts. Models in kilts, togas, Grecian gowns and Native American costumes paraded down the runway sporting intricate make-up and hair creations.
"We like to stretch people's ideas of what is beautiful," said Mary Bowden, a hairdresser at the salon and one of the three-member artistic team for the show. "We wanted to find a way to make a man in a dress beautiful. We played with shapes, textures and big odd shapes."
The show raised nearly $6,000 for the Women's Resource Center scholarship program, which helps women go back to school. In past years, the Impres Salon has donated the proceeds from the show to Child Guidance Clinic, the Boys and Girls Club and the Goodwill Inn. This is the second time the Women's Resource has been the beneficiary.
"We wanted to give back to the community as kind of a thank you," said Helen Martin, one of the coordinators for the show. "We wanted to show that hair is not just something you do in the morning, it is an art form."
The salon owners were pleased this year to endow the scholarship fund for the Women's Resource Center, a program than can keep growing and helping women year after year. Education helps women who come to the center or live in the shelter obtain jobs, which breaks the cycle of violence, said Mary Lee Lord, executive director of the Women's Resource Center.
"The entire salon is committed to the work we do; they do hair and nails for the women at the shelter," Lord said. "This is the best show they've ever done, the energy and creativity are wonderful; we're having a great time through art."
Vamping down the runway during the show were 40 local models, some employees or clients of the salon, others simply people from the community. The only hair and fashion show in town, the open model call each year draws hundreds of hopefuls, mostly ordinary people looking for a moment in the spotlight. Over the years, the salon has found the best models are those who have been dancers and who are willing to make daring statements with hair and fashion.
"It's fun and kind of nerve-wracking, you don't want to trip or something," said Victoria Senkowski, a city resident who has modeled in the show for two years. "It takes lots of pins, lots of hairspray and lots of ratting. Last year I had a more sculpted style."
Some of the hairpieces took seven hours to create and the make up, hairpieces and costumes for the Native American dancers took 20 hours in all. Impres Salon closed Friday and Saturday to prepare for and recover from the show, in which all employees helped in one way or another.