Just when the melancholy associated with the end of the holiday season was about to set in — no more parties and pageantry, no more soirees and putting on your finest for cocktails and dinner — we got a reprieve! The Celebrity Stylist Ball, the first of it’s kind, took place on the day after New Year’s Day, Monday Jan. 2 in the Grand Salon of the even grander Fox Theater.
Hosted by Atlanta’s premier stylist Dwight Eubanks of Purple Door and ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ fame Atlanta’s resident guru of all things stylish brought the glam back for one more go round before it was back to business as usual. And much to the delight of part participants — all of the evening’s drama was of the staged kind. Stunning models in lavish designs from the Wilbourne sisters strutted around the room draped in utterly magnificent garments, enhancing the panache of the entire affair.
But it wasn’t all fun and frolicking. Quipping that he ‘came out of [his] mother’s womb doing hair,’ Eubanks along with Kiss 104.1’s Sasha the Diva welcomed guests and talked about the state of the beauty industry. “The industry has changed and as the industry of fashion and beauty and hair and makeup, we are a force to be reckoned,’ declared Eubanks.
Sheila Mantz and Chaz Bridges founders of the National Stylist Association, a newly formed non-profit organization that connects black professionals and enterprises in the beauty and fashion industries were imminently gracious ambassadors for the evening, and former Georgia legislator Henrietta Turnquist, legal counsel for NSA informed guests that the beauty business is the number two industry in the world, preceded only by the food and beverage industry. “We educate and we are really into political advocacy … we are also proponents of intense networking. We have to network and not be jealous of each other,” said
40 Girls and Some Shoes founder Sylvia Webb was honored for her work with homeless women in the Atlanta metropolitan area, and Mix Master Mitch of Kiss 104.1 provided musical entertainment for the animated party goers. –roz edward
