There are beauty pageants.  There are awards shows where folks get to deck out in finery; you know, to see but more importantly, to be seen.  Then there are those who are responsible for caring about the appearance of their clients, like me, a hair styling color specialist.

I've worked on stage, behind stage, and in various salons in the Western states. There are colleagues who are hyper critical of those they consider style setters and jet setters.  They will exclaim in jubilant flamboyance, "She is absolutely fabulous!" Or, they might turn their snotty noses up in mocking disdain and declare, "That's a look that crashed."

Recently, I was asked by another stylist who found the lives of those carved by the media an important issue to be discussed, "You never watch the awards? What about pageants, you never watch those?"

My response was, "Sometimes to see the evening gowns.  I like to get ideas about how fabric is used. But I don't look to the stars to set trends for my clients, because each individual must set their own style."

He was totally amazed.  He said, "Well, you miss out on all the fun.  Some of the styles are so horrendous, you wonder how they leave their house looking like that but you also miss out on new ideas."

I responded, "I don't look at the appearance of people critically, but I do look at their character critically.  It is the character of the person that determines what kind of style they shall leave with, not the appearance of some star that looks as though her hair was made of pasta, or some ornate up-do that triples the size of her head against the landscape of her tiny body, or the flatness of her hair that makes her head look like a tiny apple on top of a wooden beam."

He thought for a time as he sipped his cognac and said to me, "What is it you do for a living?"

I told him, "I breathe."