Michel - Rome's stylist for stars
ROME - In Italy they call him the wizard of “the look” and the stylist also capable of making a star appear insignificant.
His features in the morning programmes of Italian television have always been among the most followed. Millions of women gathered in front of their screens and watched when, with a single stroke of his scissors, Michel would cut flowing hair, sparking cries of surprise from the viewers. After a few hours, the ugly duckling had been transformed by his hands, into a graceful swan.
Michel is the stylist of the famous and non-famous, who still dream of a change in their own lives. Rising from the sofa in the fashion house after their metamorphoses, many women have a new self-confidence that almost makes them feel drugged on energy.
Michel comes from Apulia, and for more than 40 years has looked after the images of celebrities of fashion, cinema and television. Johnny Depp, Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, Michelle Pfeiffer and Tom Hanks have all gone through him. In Italythere is no actress, television journalist or famous model who has not been groomed or made up by Michel. For years he has still beautified the best as well as the most beautiful that model at AltaRoma, the celebrities of the San Remo Music Festival and the Italian and international actors that attend the Venice Film Festival.
His salon Michel Harem, founded in Via Sistina 45 years ago is a crossroads for ordinary jet setting Italian men and women who only want a new look. Entering the building with “Michel Harem” on the front one might think at first that one is in a magical place. Everything sparkles, everything appears luxurious and extravagant like in a precious boudoir. Fur, jewellery and statues surround you wherever you turn. Here you can buy luxury, besides transforming yourself. Many women, might go in to become blonde, they instead leave red-headed. Michel can carry out a beautician scan in a few seconds, give a diagnosis, and then suggest what looks good and what not, or how you can become a new person. In reality he is a kind of look doctor who sees into the soul of those who trust in his care. Before changing the look he goes into their mind and advises. Michel is also the creator of a cosmetic line: effective products for hair and skin.
-Michel, now you are famous, many celebrities not only know you, but love you. How have you ended up here?
-I am still Michel. I am star sign Taurus which means I am tireless. When I was conceived I also had a twin brother. One of us was to die and the other lived. I came out on top and for that reason I was born with a great internal strength. I have had a superiority complex all my life. I am a believer and I succeed in doing everything in this way, as if my brother has always been near me and helped me. I have never tried drugs in my life, I don’t even know what they are. I don’t drink, with the exception of champagne now and again, which I love. Forty-five years ago I founded my empire at 143 Via Sistina.
-How, at the time, did you manage to make everyone in Italytalk about you?
- I owe a large part of my fame as a stylist to “Vogue.” They dedicated many pages to me and after that, other magazines also began to write about me. I managed my own column in the weekly publication of Repubblica. I have a sixth sense, that’s all. All of my friends – models, actresses, television presenters – have helped me to become famous. I like to repeat though that I have a right-brain and a left-heart. I am not in the least bit a snob.
-Who are your most important clients?
- Not just dozens, but hundreds of celebrities have passed through my salon after all these years of working in entertainment. It has even become a normal thing for me to take care of Johnny Depp’s hair for example. After my meeting with “20th Century Fox,” in reality all the top-grossing actors that come to mind have passed through my hands. I am not someone though, who survives on their own fame. Here in my salon, no-one leaves unless I personally do their hair and make-up.
Despite all that, for me my most important client is the mother of a family who saves money for months and months, so she can treat herself twice a year at Michel. Yes, I am costly. But how can you call a bottle of “Krug” expensive for example? This is simply a lifestyle choice. But for me, what counts above all is humility
-After 45 years being in the world of beauty and aesthetic care, in what way have they changed for you?
-Nothing has changed. I am the man who broke boundaries. At the time it was even spoken of as a national scandal when in 1969, I was the first to open a centre for men. In the beginning it was a corner in a bar, after it became a centre. I continually spoke about sex – for me it is the circle of life. If you live happily with your own sexuality, it is less negative. Otherwise in everything that you do, you are hateful and unhappy. Everyone is perfect in themselves. Today being gay or lesbian is a normal thing. But what you do in your private live should remain there.
-At first glance, what horrifies you most in a woman or in a man?
-Bad taste – much more than ignorance. I sometimes see women of bad taste. Here, for example, one enters, whom would not give two cents, and instead she can probably buy you, me and the whole shop. I love women with red hair. I love a woman dressed in black during the day and night – like a widow.
-Italian women are famous for being the women with most style in the world. What is your opinion?
-There was a time when this was the case. Today they resemble clones. They have re-structured lips and cheek bones from plastic surgery. They look like everyone else. As soon as I see them I can tell straightaway, which surgeon has carried out the procedures. A big competition exists nowadays and for this reason, everybody looks to have some form of plastic surgery. Instead, the type of woman I respect the most is the kind who comes here with humility and great desire for change. She then leaves with a hair style and make-up that are unique.
-Often the Italian media call you the psychological stylist. In your opinion, can a change in one’s look be mirrored in other areas of one’s life?
-Without doubt. I can recall examples of women who have become pregnant thanks to a change made here with me. Many acquire a certain self-confidence after a change in their appearance made here, that afterwards also radically changes their personal life.
Some women, for example, send their husbands packing, if they hadn’t the courage to do it before. Others go to their bosses and ask for a salary rise. One time one of my friends explained to me my big flaw. To give away a grand piano to someone who lives in a sublet. i.e. I can make you feel unattainable, like a star, even if you don’t have the makings of one. But then, if you are only a woman who does nothing else apart from taking care of her husband and three children… Now I have learnt to give things away one at a time, little by little.
-In times of crisis people care less about their appearance. What do you think?
-No. We have simply moved more towards the do-it-yourself method, and this is wrong. In terms of my clientele, I think the problem isn’t financial but psychological. People fear to reveal how much they spend. Many politicians, for example, no longer come because they do not wish to show off their abilities to finance themselves. Everyone postpones the future. Many look to get rid of expensive furs and they no longer buy Maserati or Ferrari in order not to risk tax inspections
Translated by CharlotteTrundley
