H E A LT H + B E A U T Y
Michele Mallet. BELOW: All-natural and organic hair care at Belle de Jour.
Dessange-trained color authority Michele Mallet and eponymous celebrity stylist extraordinaire José Eber are making sharp bobs and natural-looking shades of blonde attainable with the advent of two highly anticipated salons. Like a breath of fresh sea air, Michele Mallet’s Belle de Jour takes a page from the French salons that “tend to be smaller and more relaxing, luxurious, and intimate,” she says. Combining her background in her family business—Fiesta Salons, which was once the largest privately owned salon chain in the country—with that as a Paris-trained international educator for L’Oréal Professional, Mallet opened her Santa Barbara salon, “where clients feel like they are guests in my home,” she says. Entrusting local interior designer Christina Rottman to see her vision for a simple yet strikingly elegant space to fruition, Mallet allows “the creative process to flow in a welcoming environment,” she says. Synonymous with celeb-worthy cuts, José Eber’s oasis strikes a balance between the exclusivity of his flagship Los Angeles salon and tranquility of our beachside enclave. A close collaboration between Biltmore owner Ty Warner and Eber, the new Montecito locale pays homage to its glitzy Waldo Fernandez-designed Beverly Hills predecessor with art deco mirrors and a striking Regency-inspired front desk. “The fact that the salon is close to the ocean,” says Biltmore public relations director Gena Downey, “we wanted it to feel calm and comfortable.” Yet, despite its modest size, Eber assembled “a unique and masterful team from all over the world” and is sustaining a steady rotation of stylists rife with creative vision and armed with the latest in cutting and coloring techniques. BELLE DE JOUR 1236 Coast Village Rd., Montecito, 805-845-7000, bdj-salon.com JOSé EBER 1260 Channel Dr., Montecito, 805-770-3000, fourseasons .com/santabarbara.
“I wanted clients to feel like they were guests in my home.”
— M i c hele M allet
ABOVE :
The art-deco inspired interior of José Eber’s Four Seasons locale. LEFT : Eber’s signature product line.
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