AS THE CREATIVE DIRECTOR of downtown’s Sassoon Salon, Lisa Rowell trains stylists and keeps the crew up on the company’s seasonal collections and trends. Her shears are sharp, too; the Chicago transplant—she moved here to open the shop in February ’09—also transforms ordinary citizens.

Personal style in three words Modern, retro, chic.

The outfit The dress is from Dolce Vita in Ballard. I love that it’s organic cotton and super comfy. The necklaces are by a local artist named Harriet McNamara who has a line called Surplus. She adds shine to found treasures and creates pieces from scrap steel. I like layering necklaces, and these are perfect for that. The shoes are Chie Mihara; I love the curry yellow for summer.

Under foot I have a lot of shoes at work—two lockers full! I like to switch things up when I’m on my feet all day. Surprisingly, I bought my first pair of heels at downtown’s A Mano on my initial visit to Seattle.

Unnaturally curly hair I was born with curl, but when I saw Marc Jacobs’s spring 2010 Louis Vuitton show with all of the models wearing afro wigs and, around the same time, Prada ads showing a lot of texture, I knew I wanted to adapt my look.

The ’do as an element of style With an interesting haircut, even jeans and a T-shirt can look edgy.

Raddest hair era Definitely the ’60s, which was when Vidal Sassoon freed women from once-a-week curler sets and stiff, sprayed looks. He came up with all these geometric cutting techniques that created shapes and structure; he cut hair like it was fabric. Some of the most memorable of those Sassoon looks are Nancy Kwan’s dramatic bob, redheaded model Grace Coddington’s “five point” cut, and Mia Farrow’s short crop in Rosemary’s Baby.

Best places to show off a new hairstyle The crowds at SAM’s First Thursday parties are interesting and diverse, and I love going to Knee High Stocking Company for gin fizzes.


READ MORE CONVERSATIONS WITH THE PEOPLE SHAPING SEATTLE STYLE.