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Hairdresser Nathan Kake's - Dream Job |
| Top Hairdressers - Top New Zealand Hairdressers |
| Written by Sarah Stuart |
Hairdresser finds dream job in the glamour capital of EuropeHairdresser Nathan Kake wasn't, but one good hair and make-up do landed the Aucklander a one-hour-a-day live-in gig with a wealthy English former model in Monaco. One hour doing your boss's make-up and hair; the rest of the day shopping in Monaco. Hairdresser Nathan Kake tells Sarah Stuart all about his backbreaking career as a personal stylist to a wealthy British couple.
 Another Hairdresser at work
The L'Oreal hairdresser, who was making faces in the Powder Room at Fashion Week, has spent the past two months devoting himself to the makeover of Jan Alderman, who is the girlfriend of sporting entrepreneur Paul Garland.
Living first in the couple's home in Monaco, then later moving with them to their mansion in Manchester (think Posh and Becks' Beckingham Palace), Kake and his schoolteacher partner Philip Toovey revelled in luxury's lap, then each took home a brand new wardrobe as a thank you.
"Dream job? Oh it sure was," says Kake, the fourth of seven children from a West Auckland family. "We shopped and chatted and I taught her how to do her hair and make-up and how to wear clothes. And then we shopped some more."
One full day of retail therapy involved $15,000 worth of beauty and hair products, brushes, clothes and accessories. On another day, hairdresser Kake accompanied the entrepreneur as he shopped for a new Porsche.
"Phil and I were like, is he going to take that right now?" laughs Kake. "It's a different world, I guess."The 34-year-old has spent 17 years in the hair and beauty industry, following his sister, former Miss New Zealand Andrea Kake, into make-up and styling and hairdressing.
As a hairdresser his infectious personality and deadpan advice to clients--"we need to re-educate the language of your parting", he told a fashion follower last week--has seen him pick up private clients in Sydney, London and Switzerland.
"The thing is, I've heard all the moans from women. I know what they hate about hairdressers and make-up artists and I know how to read their faces and what's wrong with them and how to pick up on their good points. And I can tell them how to do it themselves at home."
A former winner of the Schwarzkopf Newcomer hairdressing award, he has created looks for private hair and make-up clients in Sydney, London and Switzerland.
After L'Oreal's New Zealand Fashion Week, where he worked on models and international media, Kake flew to London where Phil was contracted to work in British schools. But the offer of a job at a personal hairdresser and style consultancy in the south of France was too good to turn down and the couple shifted to Nice.
"That's where I met Jan," says Kake, the hairdresser was contracted to work on the English woman's hair. "They can't do colour in Monaco because they're used to brunettes and so all the blondes get blasted." Subtle blonde, he says with a laugh, means brassy Donatella Versace.
Kake travelled to the former model's holiday home, offering to complete her make-up for a night out at a party. Next day, Garland called, asking if Kake could surprise Alderman with a special make-up for a night out with his clients.
"Next thing they asked us to stay over," says Kake. "They asked Phil to tutor their nine-year-old daughter and me to be on call for hair and make-up. Basically that meant one hour in the morning, sometimes at nights for parties and swanning about the rest of the day the hairdresser explains."
While the couple travelled in Europe on business, the Kiwi staff were in charge of the Monaco home. "Easiest work I've ever done," says Kake. When Jan returned, he moved on to her wardrobe, adding accessories and trying to push the less is more motto.
"My advise as a hairdresser is Women need to know they can have gorgeous hair and gorgeous make-up and the outfit can be quite simple," he says. "Not such an easy thing in Monaco."
Later, the New Zealanders shifted into the heavily-gated seven-bedroomed estate in Manchester where Paul mixed with soccer agents and top players.
"At the end of the month she bought me a ticket to Australia so I could be on the same flight as Phil," says Kake."Sweet huh!"
As he daubed foundation and blush on a string of suitably impressed international buyers and media in the Powder Room last week, Kake international celebrity hairdresser had few regrets about leaving his lucrative contract.
"I love working one on one with people but I'm a hairdresser who wouldn't want to stay with one client all the time," he says. "Besides, New Zealand is home. And women here have the same problems women in Europe do."
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| Last Updated on Tuesday, 30 March 2010 15:25 |
