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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, January 15, 2010

From Beverly Hills to Honolulu


By Paula Rath
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Melissa Chang of Ala Moana gets her hair done by David Richer at Peggy's Salon at the New Otani Hotel. Richer has worked on many famous heads of hair.

REBECCA BREYER | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

MELISSA'S MAKEOVER

We asked David Richer to do a makeover for www.HonoluluAdvertiser.com blogger Melissa Chang, who was ready for a new 'do for the new year.
Hair color: "I call color the 30-minute miracle. It's the most dramatic change you can make in so little time," the stylist said. Chang had light highlights; Richer found the contrast rather drastic, so he went for a single color: natural medium brown.
Chang can always get highlights later if she misses them. A few days after her makeover Chang said she was missing her highlights and might add some in, though they would not be as extreme as her previous ones.
Hair style: Richer said Chang's hair was too full at the sides and back so he took the fullness out. He added height and gave her a "chunky cut to make it funky and young," adding some soft wisps around her face. "She can just finger in Paul Mitchell 'Thicken Up,' add a little wax and go out on the town," he said.
After Chang went home, she said she was having a little difficulty replicating what Richer did for her hair, so she plans to see Richer for a styling lesson.
Makeup: Debbie Drennen suggested that when Chang fills in her eyebrows, she lift them up so they frame her eyes.
"It's almost like getting a face lift," Drennan said. Drennan also used a brighter under-eye concealer to lighten Chang's eyes.
For Chang's lips, Drennan drew a slightly darker line with a lip pencil and filled it in with a lighter lip gloss.

Photos by REBECCA BREYER | The Honolulu Advertiser

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David Richer of Mo'ili'ili has coiffed the heads of Barbara Walters, Anna Nicole Smith, Ethel Kennedy, Roberta Peters, Marlo Thomas, Carrie Fisher and Gov. and Mrs. Gray Davis, to name just a few. As a Beverly Hills hairstylist for more than 25 years, he saw it all. Now he's writing a book titled "Memoir of a Beverly Hills Hairdresser."

Richer, who worked for years at the iconic Beverly Hills Hotel, talks about seeing Sophia Loren in the elevator and Jackie Onassis in the hotel lobby.

He remembers going to Barbara Walters' hotel suite to style her hair and finding her wrapped in a towel and a turban with phones in both hands. "She was on the phone the entire time I was there. She was unbelievably busy," he said.

Richer calls the late Anna Nicole Smith "the most beautiful person I have ever worked on," and adds, "She loved her son, Daniel. Of all the people in her life, he is the one she talked about, and her face lit up when she did."

The Kennedy women also chose Richer for their stylist when in Southern California. Joan, Courtney and Ethel Kennedy all came to him for their hair.

When visiting Ethel Kennedy's suite to style her hair, Richer noticed a framed photo of her husband (the late Bobby Kennedy) on her nightstand. "It had been over 25 years since his death. I was taken with that," he said.

After more than 30 years of vacationing in Honolulu, Richer decided to make it his home. He is now ensconced in Peggy's Salon, a friendly little place in the New Otani Hotel. He offers free consulations and his prices are not quite at Beverly Hills levels: $45 for a cut and $65 for a cut and blow dry.

To contact Richer, call Peggy's Salon at 924-0422.