‘Walk for Water’ Fashion Hits the Green Carpet at ‘A New Beginning’ Aveda Lifestyle Salon and Day Spa in Bethel, As They Celebrate Earth Month

Report by Paula Antolini
April 5, 2017 5:49AM EDT

Photo: (Left to right) stylist’s model Alyssa, Oscar Bond, Carol St. Amand Romer (owner of A New Beginning), Joseph Nati, at Earth Month event, April 3, 2017.

BETHEL ADVOCATE EXCLUSIVE

‘Walk for Water’ Fashion Hits the Green Carpet at ‘A New Beginning’ Aveda Lifestyle Salon and Day Spa in Bethel, As They Celebrate Earth Month

A New Beginning Aveda Lifestyle Salon and Day Spa in Bethel, CT, began their celebration of Earth Month on April 3, 2017, at 5-7:00 p.m, with their “green carpet” event during which local salons came together for Earth Month by showcasing their inspiration, creativity and technical skills in hair, makeup and fashion. All proceeds benefit the CT Clean Water Fund *Clean Ocean Action.

Using earth as their muse, design teams created a comprehensive look that celebrated beauty and fashion all while caring for the world we live in.

The fun and energetic event began with preparation in the salon, with teams of stylists creating hair styles, makeup and clothing especially for the show.

Carol St. Amand Romer, owner of A New Beginning, located at 68 Stony Hill Road in Bethel, CT, is committed to the environment. She began the Earth Month event by giving a background to the audience as to why they use Aveda products, what it means to them, and why they celebrate “Earth Month” instead of “Earth Day”. She spoke about her memory of being ten years old and deciding to clean up her own road, and said, “I managed to coordinate the kids and we all went up and down the road and cleaned out all the bottles and cans for Earth Day, and I was the very first one, and I think that was 42 years ago.”

St. Amand Romer also spoke about a TV commercial that affected her greatly. “The native American standing there so proud of his land and his country, and us white people went and threw garbage at his feet, and he cried. That commercial back then affected me so deeply that it has always been a part of what I wanted to do to ‘help make the world a better place’,” she said.

“As a young mother of three kids, I felt, what can I do to make the world a better place? … and then I found Aveda products. Someone said they don’t test on animals, and they’re all natural … and for the first time ever I founded a company that actually matched my personal values,” St. Amand Romer said.

Twenty two years later the salon created this event that included an Earth Month Fashion Show that is for Clean Ocean Action, “which is a company that does actual manual clean up, but also does litigation so that if there are any challenges, they can, as an environmentalist, stand up to those causes because corporations have crazy amounts of money, to just tie you up in court, and nothing ever happens,” St. Amand Romer said, “So the money here goes to that type of thing to help fight the people who are not environmentally mission aligned.”

Models walked down the isle in the fashion show in an adjacent room of the salon, each carrying a small world globe.

The first model, Carol’s daughter Tara, wore a bride dress made out of recycled color instruction sheets. Next was Alyssa, currently a senior at Abbott Tech Hairdressing, Carol’s alma mater. Alyssa’s elaborate hair and makeup was done by Lisa. The next model, Laura, a guest at A New Beginning, was representing “Mother Earth in the Water Realm” said St. Amand Romer. “The reason we are doing this is for our children,” said St. Amand Romer as she welcomed the children onto the green carpet.

There were raffle and door prizes available, a goody bag filled with products, from Clean Action Ocean and Aveda, and Joseph Nati of Hattori Hanzo Shears also donated a prize for stylists which included a special $950 scissors.

Nati also brought world-renowned special guest Oscar Bond to the event, and St. Amand Romer introduced him to the audience as “a humongous celebrity in my world.” She said to Bond, “You really are awesome.”

Photo: Oscar Bond (right) styles model’s hair (left) with Tara (center).

Oscar now works with Hattori Hanzo, “He’s a hair cutter, and he does hair cutting classes,” St. Amand Romer said. “Back in the day he worked directly with [the late] Horst Rechelbacher, who was the founder of Aveda, helping to develop the cutting curriculum for the Aveda Corporation,” she said.

“Bond’s strong connection to the fashion world, mastery of cutting, and passion to adapt to the ever-changing eye of style, define his illustrious career,” as indicated on the Hattori Hanzo Shears website.

It goes on to read:

“He began his long history as an industry educator at the esteemed Vidal Sassoon Academy in London where he was a member of the International Artistic and Show Team for Sassoon before taking the big leap to independence in 1987.

“Bond’s mastery of the craft and gift for teaching has taken him all over the world for the past 25 years. He has worked in almost every city in the world and all over America. In 1994, he joined the Aveda Artistic Style Council and was appointed as Head of Education for the Aveda Institute in New York – Soho. At Aveda, he was responsible for implementing a strong yet simple haircutting system on many levels throughout the Aveda network, as well as delivering the latest trends through weekly advanced haircutting classes, national level shows and seasonal photographic sessions. In 1998, he began the tremendous task of putting his years of knowledge and expertise into ownership of a vision.

“He has been featured in such magazines as In Style, Mademoiselle, Jane, Marie Clare, Self, GQ, Details, YM, Soho Style, Time Out, and Vogue, and his salon was voted one of New York City’s Top Ten Salons in the October 1999 Issue of Salon News. In addition, his work was highlighted on ABC’s The View and MTV’s Making The Band. The salon has also been featured on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Teen Vogue, Color & Style Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal.”

The celebration continued at Prime Pub Restaurant, next door to the salon, who graciously donated the proceeds of anything anyone purchased at their restaurant during the celebration, to the cause.

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VIEW MORE PHOTOS HERE (also check back soon for video of the event, to come):