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The Weeks in Review, Plus Two Tributes

December 23, 2018 by WendyB

In case you missed it, here’s what’s been on the blog recently.

  • Tuesday, December 4:  The sale I was talking about in this post has come and gone, but I’m very determined to move the last of my silver pieces in the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for sale announcements and gifts with purchase!
  • Wednesday, December 5: My one-of-a-kind Nefertiti ring and the Nefertiti biography that helped inspire it were the topics of this week’s video.

  • Friday, December 7: Signet rings for the millennial mama? I like being on that gift list. Thanks, Barbara Palumbo!
  • Tuesday, December 11: This one is a must-read, if I do say so myself: It’s the conclusion of my telling of my Eminem-related business debacle. I felt kind of proud after writing that just now; I bet not many people can say they had an Eminem-related business debacle. Every cloud has a silver lining.
  • Wednesday, December 12: With Shady business decisions on my mind, it seemed like a good time to share some advice on challenges faced by jewelry entrepreneurs and other small-biz owners.

  • Thursday, December 13: If your true love didn’t get you those swans a-swimming from the song, swan jewelry actually requires much less upkeep. The veterinary bills might be steep for seven actual swans.
  • Tuesday, December 18: Four years to the day after Henry the dog departed for the big dog bed in the sky, we unexpectedly lost my beloved Purrkoy the kitten to a stroke.
  • Wednesday, December 19: A lot of people ask me how Purrkoy got his name. This is a video I did earlier in the year.
  • Thursday, December 20: Nighttime was Purrkoy’s time to purrform.

Because I was distracted with personal things this week, I neglected to write a post I really wanted to do, about the unexpected death of hairstylist Oribe Canales at age 62. (According to the New York Times, the cause was liver and kidney failure following cancer treatment last month, but no one seemed to know he was facing health challenges.) Oribe was a legend in the fashion and beauty industries, and of course I knew all about him because he worked with THE supermodels.

View this post on Instagram

♥️ I will love my Oribe forever. ♥️ #family 💔

A post shared by Linda Evangelista (@lindaevangelista) on Dec 17, 2018 at 7:46am PST

In addition to being famous, Oribe was adored — a bigger achievement in any professional circle. He supported and encouraged so many people inside and outside his business. A friend of mine who worked with him for 12 years called those “the very best” years of her life. Colorist Rita Hazan, who went on to own her own salon, met Oribe when she was only 17.

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I grew up working for this legend and gorgeous man inside and out! I was only 17 when I walked into his salon and said ‘I’m gonna work here!’ I was hired on the spot as an assistant to THE @bradjohns333. There was nothing like it and there will never be another salon like his. The energy was electric. Models, celebs, fashion designers; anyone who was anyone was not only a client, but also a great friend. Oribe was the most generous, humble, creative soul I have ever met! The fact that he saw something in my work was thrilling. When I got promoted to colorist, he would send me all his friends and clients to color. He would push me beyond my limits and what I thought was impossible, I had to find a way to get it done to impress him! I must have impressed him b/c we started working together on many celebs, creating looks and new images for them. Oribe was known to give you glamour, fashion and heat. We were traveling together and I got to know him personally, Oribe was really funny and had a huge sense of humor. Beauty to Oribe was everything: hair, makeup, clothes. It was all connected. He took glamour to the next level with his Latin heat. He is the reason I am the person I am today. I’m thankful that god put me in his life. Oribe will forever be my mentor, family and friend. Rest In Peace, you will always be beautiful!! #oribe #oribecanales

A post shared by Rita Hazan|Celebrity Colorist (@ritahazan) on Dec 17, 2018 at 9:59am PST

When actress Jennifer Lopez became the A-list star J. Lo, Oribe played an integral role in her image.

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When I was 16 I was fascinated with Vogue magazine I would ride on the train and look at all the images of the supermodels and I was obsessed with the hair!! When I saw an image I loved I would check who did it and it was always someone named Oribe… Wow… he’s amazing I would think!! Cut to years later I was making my first album. I started working with Benny Medina and he said to me we have to do an album cover shoot who do you want for hair and makeup… honestly I was so new to the industry I knew no one and remembered my time flipping thru those magazines on the 6 and said ummm Oribe and Kevin Aucoin… Benny laughed and said oh OK! The next 10 years I would spend with Oribe by my side in every waking and working moment. We fell in love with each other. We traveled the world together. And along with Scott Barnes they helped me blossom into JLO. It was a magical and exhausting time…And when I was tired he would say to me… “You are gonna get up and go out there and be beautiful and fabulous bc that your job!!” We’d laugh bc that sounded crazy and then we would get to the business of doing our “job” !! He made me love the glam part of things. Bc he loved it so much and saw it as a powerful tool to empower women. He loved beauty and wanted women to feel beautiful and sexy. He loved the messiness and the imperfection and saw how interesting that was. He was a true artist. He made me feel special and beautiful for so long. I could go on and on but I will just say with a heavy heart… Thank you sweet, beautiful man… I will miss you. I love you Oribe… so much… 💔#latinolegend #artistextraordinaire #hairgod #familia

A post shared by Jennifer Lopez (@jlo) on Dec 17, 2018 at 10:19am PST

There are more tributes in this Allure story, and if you look up the #RIPOribe hashtag and its variations on Instagram, you’ll see how much people loved him. I was tearing up even though I never met him myself.

Another awful loss this week does affect me more personally. I’m so stunned by the death of Atlanta DJ Speakerfoxxx that I can’t process the information. Speakerfoxxx was tight with my friend Gangsta Boo, who introduced us. I didn’t spend a lot of time with Speaker but she was such a key person in Boo’s life I felt like I knew her. When I did meet her, it was memorable. She was in New York City to DJ at Fashion Week events, and we had trouble getting our schedules to align. The night she was free happened to be Valentine’s Day. So I simply told MrB that our romantic Valentine’s Day dinner plans had expanded to include two more people — Speaker and her friend Newport. (You’ve got to give MrB credit for being a chillaxed guy.) We had a great time, the four of us, on our date.

Click for original post.

With this news weighing on me, I’m glad I had already planned a very low-key celebration of my birthday, which is today. After last year’s big celebrations both in New York and Iceland — and the post-election exhaustion I’ve been feeling since last month — I was pretty relaxed about this year. Dinner with the family is planned. Speaking of family, I will end this post on a lighter note with the help of my gorgeous sister, Terri Berry. I got a notification from her that she had shared “a jewelry video for your birthday.” I thought, “Geez, that seems a little labor-intensive, to create some kind of birthday message with my jewelry.” It turned out to be this.

Never mind!

You might also like
Throwback Thursday: When Havoc Struck
RIP, Tim Conway and Doris Day
The Weeks in Review

Filed Under: About Wendy, age, In the News, obits, week in review Tagged With: oribe canales, purrkoy the kitten, speakerfoxxx

Previous Post: « Throwback Thursday: Stalking the Opurra Star
Next Post: MrB Is the Cat’s Pyjamas, Plus What Wendy Wore »

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MEET WENDY BRANDES

Award-winning designer of fine jewelry inspired by women's history and pop culture. A former journalist who writes about jewelry, fashion, medieval history, news, feminism, dogs, cats and whatever else is on her mind. Blogging since 2007.
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Original jewelry designs, photos and text are © Wendy Brandes 2007-2016. All rights reserved.

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