Cohl Katz has a client list that will make you want to befriend her immediately. She has worked with Tom Hanks, Helen Mirren, Jodie Foster, Charlize Theron, Kevin Spacey, Leonardo DiCaprio and many more. Advertising, magazines, fashion shows, award shows…anyplace a client needs to be the most beautiful person in the room, Cohl is on the scene. One begins to wonder if there isn’t a famous head of hair she hasn’t styled or face she hasn’t perfected with cosmetics. She studied in San Francisco and London, worked at Pipino Buccheri Salon in New York, MCM Salon and Warren Tricomi at The Plaza. Now this former city girl happily sports a ponytail and jeans when not working at Vincent Palumbo in her new hometown. cohlkatz.com
ON EARLY SUCCESS, LIKE VIDAL SASSOON ACADEMY IN LONDON AND WORKING WITH MODELS…
“I was lucky enough to do British Vogue…I’ve always had that drive to start at the top. I’m adventurous. Even though there might be fear about certain things, I know the only thing that keeps me back is my own self-talk—and I know not to listen to that and go for what I want.”
ON MOVING TO NYC AT TWENTY…
“I grew up watching Woody Allen movies, so I had to be a New Yorker. I moved there with $50 and a pair of scissors. I started hanging out at Palladium and handing out handwritten business cards and making house calls. I built up enough clients to start work at a salon.”
ON A CHANCE MEETING…
“I met Maripol, a fashion stylist and a friend of Madonna’s. This was 1983, her breakout year. When Madonna was going to go on stage, Maripol was the one who would take off her bra and all of her jewelry and say, ‘Madonna, put this on.’…I gave her my card and she said, ‘You should go to my friend who has a salon on Madison Avenue.’ So I did.”
ON HER FIRST CELEB CLIENT…
“Jodie Foster. Thirty years later, I still work with her. I made her up and when she went back to L.A., people would ask her who she worked with and she would recommend me. So my business grew by word of mouth. Since then I’ve traveled the world, I‘ve been to the White House several times, making up First Ladies. It’s been a great career.”
ON SETTLING IN WESTPORT…
“I’ve been carrying the bag, going from New York to Hollywood. I started feeling like I needed something new. …I’ve been working nonstop and now I have the opportunity to redesign my life.…There’s not this underlying frenetic energy and feeling of not doing enough. I didn’t want to feel like that. Here I feel like what I’m doing and who I am is enough. Something has shifted since I’ve been here, and I think it’s really good. I’ve had quiet time to reflect.”
WOMAN TO WOMAN
“JAMIE LEE CURTIS told me something that I now pass on to my clients: ‘Do your makeup, get ready in the mirror, look at yourself, and then walk away.’ She’s right. If You stay too long, you start picking.”