June 30, 2014
Welcome to MONTE MONDAYS! Every Monday for the next few weeks, we will feature our dear friend Monte Durham from TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta
LSGS: Many of our clients know you from “jacking” up brides on TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta. Many DON’T know that you have been in the fashion and beauty industry for years. How did you get started?
Monte: I was born in the hills of West Virginia. My father was quite the dapper dresser in college, and my mother was always a great dresser with an impeccable, understated sense of style. … I was always surrounded by changing fashions because of my three sisters. I tell everyone that when I started school, I started in a one-room schoolhouse that my grandfather helped build. [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][Later] I went to a very small merchandising school … and went into department stores in visual merchandising (at the time, it was called display). When I transitioned to the sales floor and became a personal shopper … women would say to me they could never find anybody to alter their clothes properly or do their hair the way they wanted. I thought, “I can’t sew, but I can do hair!” I went to Graham Webb International and took the advanced course [in London] and then worked for Elizabeth Arden. [After that] I opened my own salon, Studio M at The Resort at Glade Springs in West Virginia.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]