Hard Row To Hoe But Lisa Answers Call
Sun Herald
Sunday May 4, 2008
NEWCASTLE hair salon owner Lisa Lambert-Smith can add stylist to the stars to her resume after answering a plea for help at last week's Australian Fashion Week.
Ms Lambert-Smith, a veteran of the fashion industry event, thought she was dreaming when she received a call from celebrity stylist Renya Xydis."I couldn't believe the hair stylist I most admire and aspire to be like was calling me, on my mobile," she said.Late on Thursday afternoon, after an exhausting week styling for designer shows Ginger & Smart, Cohen et Sabine and Karla Spetic, Ms Lambert-Smith was preparing to return to Newcastle when Ms Xydis made a desperate call for her to work with the sass & bide team. "They wanted a particular style and I was one of only a few hairdressers who could actually do it," the owner and director of King Street salon Blue Lotus said.Sass & bide made a triumphant return to Australian Fashion Week on Thursday with the Rainbows for Kate collection, dedicated to designer Heidi Middleton's friend who died of breast cancer, a disease Middleton was diagnosed with in 2006.The collection featured models with corn-row hairstyles - extremely tight and perfectly plaited braids - a style Ms Lambert-Smith perfected growing up in the United States. "Working with African-American clients in a salon in San Francisco, you quickly learn how to do corn rows," Ms Lambert-Smith said. "I never dreamed it would be a style that would score me a job with Renya Xydis."Sass & bide's Middleton and Sarah-Jane Clarke use Ms Xydis for their shows all around the world. Her clients also include Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts and Cate Blanchett.New Lambton-raised model Nick Howarth made up the other half of the Hunter contingent at fashion week, after spending the past seven years strutting the catwalks in New York, Paris and Milan.
© 2008 Sun Herald
