glam rock spectacle

The staff at diPietro Todd all agree that this year’s annual Christmas Party with a “Glamrock” theme at SF’s newest hotspot JONES was one of Andrew and Sam’s best parties to date!! It seems as though everyone says that each and every year… but I will admit that this year was AMAZING!! Crazy enough, Kate Moss was on the cover of December’s French Vogue as a David Bowie look alike so we all knew we were riding the wave of what’s happening in fashion and modern culture, which we really pride ourselves on. The evening opened with a girl band named “Featherwitch”. They were beyond sexy and fun. After that, DJ Sam Isaac took over from there. The highlight of the evening was a performance piece by Michael O’Rourke (colorist in Palo Alto) as Freddie Mercury from the infamous 70′s band Queen. Michael was seriously channeling Freddie Mercury and the crowd was going wild to my favorite song “We are the Champions”.Thank you to the diPietro Todd staff. You are the champions!

 

 

Featherwitch

Michael O’Rourke giving us his best Freddie Mercury performance

The diPietro Todd crowd goes wild!

Glam Rock at its finest

diPietro Todd takes over Jones.. what a Glam Rock Spectacle!

It’s a Wrap

Reflecting back on this year, we are filled with gratitude.  As Educators, we pushed ourselves further than ever and as Stylists and Colorists we grew, learned and explored. We met and worked with many great hairstylists along the way from all across the country both at our Academy and in their home salons. With our Directors and Educators traveling across the country, we enjoyed working on the road in such locations as NYC, Seattle, LA, Chicago, Dallas, and Miami.  It’s always fun to see what other hairdressers in our industry are up to and being adaptable to various types of formats. We ran everything from small format private classes to big venue presentations. At our Academy here in SF, we’re offering new courses in 2012. While our popular classics continue to sell out, we feel its important to mix it up and offer new twists for our die hard repeat attendees. We had fun with our creative classes-  tying together cut, color and style compared to our normally departmentalized programs. Next year, we are offering this as a 2-day class which many of attendees have requested. Our enrollment continues to grow and we are so proud of our team and what they have accomplished. We are grateful for all of the attendees that took part in our Academy this past year. Thank you for visiting our beautiful city and sharing our passion for this amazing industry that we are all a part of. See you next year….. Shelley Mohr, Academy Director of Color Amita Moticka, Academy Director of Cutting

Shelley + Amita kicking off an Academy course

Cares, Assistant Academy Director of Color, teaching our Enlighten course

Educators Debi + Yureesh teaching our Equate: Classic Cutting course

dPT @ NY Fashion Week

Fashion Week was a whirlwind to say the least. Our Creative Director Akemi Tamaribuchi and Assisitant Creative Director Moises Villa were invited to work backstage at numerous shows among other talented hair stylists. It was our job (myself and my partner-in-crime Brittany McCall, Media Director) to capture as much of the excitement as possible. The list of shows on Akemi and Moises’ itinerary were nothing short of fabulous: Jason Wu, Thakoon, Rodarte, Theyskens Theory, and Phillip Lim 3.1. Needless to say, Brittany and I were ready, willing and very much able! The duo had the privilege of working backstage with the infamous French hairstylist Odile. She was a sight to see- with her cigarette in hand, she appeared passionate about her vision making sure every piece of hair was in its place. Akemi and Moises worked right alongside her and as Brittany approached them with her camera. Odile proudly said “Be sure to capture our superstars!” speaking fondly of Akemi and Moises. It was such an honor for Brittany and I to watch Akemi and Moises work their magic backstage- they were so humbled, poised, confident and worked seamlessly together. It was evident that this was exactly where they belonged… rubbing elbows with Odile and making their mark at New York Fashion week. As for Brittany and I, every single day was a little adventure. Getting backstage was not as easy feat, in fact it was a bit stressful, but once we made it through those doors it was all worth it! We were able to capture some amazing footage, celebrity sight-see (Dakota Fanning, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Anna Wintour, Bruce Willis, Alexa Chung just to name a few!) and enjoy a few fashion shows. On the eve of my last day in New York with the team, I came back to my hotel room only to find a dozen roses, chocolates, and a card from my boyfriend. This was the cherry on top of my cake!  After an exhausting, memorable, fun, and fashion-filled week…. Brittany and I can honestly say we are two very lucky ladies and so happy to be a part of the Creative Office at diPietro Todd.

Cheers,

Aileen Ablaza

Communications Director

The dynamic duo- Moises and Akemi- backstage at Rodarte

French hairstylist Odile surrounded by the press and Brittany (with headphones) capturing the interview

the finished product- backstage at Rodarte

Moises backstage at Thakoon. Colored clay was used in the hair.

Thakoon runway

Moises and me, a nightcap on the rooftop of our hotel

Flowers from my boyfriend

opening day 2011

diPietro Todd philosophy 101 was the message for “Opening Day” and our team of 38 salon assistants. Traditionally, we start the beginning of every new year with a major meeting conveying to staff what it takes to be a successful stylist at here at diPietro Todd. Our partner Winona Lewis (Fillmore salon) spoke of the importance of connecting with people. Maggie (Walnut Creek) joined in with her thoughts on image and how that plays into success. Dylan (Walnut Creek) brought everyone’s attention to running a steady business and Chris David (Palo Alto) talked about working your way to the top at diPietro Todd. We finished the morning with a power point presentation given by Akemi (Creative Director) and a sneak preview of what will be happening in 2011.

prohibition party

“LIPS THAT TOUCH LIQUOR WILL NEVER TOUCH MINE”

Prohibition was the theme for this years Xmas party at diPietro Todd. I’m amazed once again how Andrew comes up with these fabulous party ideas that run just on the edge of what’s happening in modern culture. With Sam Hayes as his right hand-man, they both plot and plan on every last detail to ensure that they create authenticity and a rip roaring good time. Everyone looked so beautiful and gay in their 20′s inspired clothing while dancing the Charleston. Later in the evening, burlesque dancers added some grit to the sexy speak easy bar while old black and white films played in the background. Truthfully, the photos say it all.

New York Fashion Week

We seriously had to pinch ourselves when Kirsten Magrini (Senior Business Manager for L’Oreal Professional- West) asked us if we would like to send two hairdressers to participate in Fashion Week for Gwen Stephanie’s L.A.M.B clothing line. Gwen the “No Doubt” rock star is the new face for INOA, L’Oreal’s new premier color product and the look for her spring show was fresh, young and sophisticated. We sent Akemi, our Creative Director, along with her Assistant Creative Director, Moises Villa, and they were part of a team of hairdressers responsible for creating the loose, sexy, sweet upstyles with braids and chignons. The hair complimented the clothing perfectly and was spot on fabulous! One of the highlights of the evening for me was when Elle magazine stopped us on the way into the Lincoln Center to take a picture of Maggie Ponicsan our new partner for the Walnut Creek Salon. I think she may have been one of the most fashionable women at the event. All in all, it was a great experience we’ll never forget.

Alejandro Lopez, VP of L’Oreal

Curtain Call

Images by Kristin Smith.

The diPietro Todd assistants raised the bar last Sunday with their fabulous show at the Club 525 on Howard Street. They took their inspiration from the late Alexander McQueen—the renowned bad boy of fashion. They expanded off what they had learned about McQueen in class and created some of the most progressive hair that has been seen in a very long time. Speaking honestly the color, cuts and upstyling could have been in something like W magazine and looked right on the mark. The audience was blown away with the art direction, fashion, makeup and the models that were chosen. All 38 assistants worked collectively as a team to create their best ever show ever and we were all really proud. The future looks bright at diPietro Todd. You can check out the rest of the photos here.

new logo

When Andrew talks openly about the amount of time that diPietro Todd has been in business he always says that diPietro Todd is 22 years “young” which sounds so much more accurate with how we feel rather than 22 years “old”. We like to think that diPietro Todd is just getting started and if you’ve seen our new logo it is certainly indicative of these feelings. It is bold, confident and ready to take off in any new direction. As usual, we have a lot going on here at diPietro Todd and we’re really excited about it! We’ve been working tirelessly on the academy to make sure it will assume the position that it deserves in the line up of education in the salon world. Most importantly we are so thrilled we stayed afloat during the down economy. With that being said, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our staff and clients for their much appreciated loyalty.

In respect to the old logo—we’ll never loose the orange. Back in the day it was pretty brave to use orange and I must admit it has served us well.

development at dpt

Our latest graduate, Alex Vega (Stylist @ Post St)

Somewhere in recent years diPietro Todd’s in-house training program called “Development” has been compared to Harvard when people speak of the best training the beauty industry has to offer. It is rewarding to hear that since we are very committed to our students that we hire and train. This spring we’ve graduated 3 students with one more finishing up this summer. All the students come to diPietro Todd’s “Development” program with hopes of working in a successful high end salon once they graduate. In the process, students work in a structured, self-paced program that takes up to 3 years to complete. Obviously we are more interested in the quality of their work than their speed. Their educators/mentors stretch them in every way possible to make sure by the time they finish our program they are technically in place, confident, creative and ready to tackle any hair issue or client needs. The students who work the hardest and have the most vision will make it to the soiree that they have to present to the staff before they get a position on the floor at one of the diPietro Todd Salons. We are always so proud of the students when they finish we could almost cry!

dinner at the todd’s

Andrew and I had a dinner party for our Partners, Creative Team and Directors of Education to show our appreciation for everything they all do here at diPietro Todd to make this the dynamic salon that it is. Andrew was his most amazing chef self in the kitchen and Shelly Mohr (Academy Director of Color) came to the rescue at the end to make it extra fabulous. It was great to see everyone have such a good time together. Not a lot of talk about work, just good food, fun and friendship. We ended the night with Chris David, our new partner for our Palo Alto salon belting out a song and dance to that old favorite from the 80′s, Human League’s- “The Things That Dreams are Made of.” It couldn’t have been more perfect.

Thank you—Akemi, Winona, Maggie, Dylan, Chris, Amita, Shelly, Dawn, Emily, Stacy, Ali, Aileen and Brittany

All The Best….