Also this issue: Icepack -A.D. Amorosi

October 10-16, 2002

naked city

Hair Highness

a cut above: Joan Pileggi opened a salon in 1977 and hasn’t stopped since.

For 25 years, Joan Pileggi has reigned over a salon empire.

by Alex Richmond

In 1977, Joan Pileggi bought an old mission on Seventh and Walnut streets. Her husband owned a chain of 27 salons called Vincent and Joseph, and she wanted to put a salon of her own in the building, even though there were no other even faintly glamorous businesses in the neighborhood. She started out with just five employees on one-half of the building’s first floor.

Though she admits it was a long shot, she fully expected a baby Rodeo Drive to spring up around her salon, a phenomenon which has come to pass on Walnut Street, west of Broad (where she opened another salon with her partner, Giovanni Mele, in the late '90s). "I was a pioneer," she laughs. "There was a bank on the corner that I thought would be an anchor -- then PSFS went under." She stuck it out, saying that as each year went by, she would "pray to the building gods."

While the area directly surrounding Pileggi on the Square hasn't quite undergone the transformation its founder expected, the gods of real estate answered her prayers in the form of a 44-story apartment building currently being built right across the street. She expects the needs of the new tenants to be better met with new retail offerings -- and restaurateur Stephen Starr moving into four spaces on Chestnut Street between Sixth and Seventh has certainly helped traffic as well.

"It took time. But my philosophy is, if you give good service and good product, your customers will return." Though she declines to state the annual grosses of her business, she simply says, "it's been very rewarding." And there's no doubt her company has experienced significant growth. Pileggi has four locations in the Philadelphia area, and employs over 50 people at the Seventh Street salon, which now utilizes all four floors.

In 1986, Pileggi bought the building next door and opened an upscale-within-reason boutique. And in 1996, she partnered with her then-employee Mele, who had just won the award for Best North American Hairstylist (over 2,000 of his peers were in the running). "He is very focused on hair, always interested in trying new styles," Pileggi says.

Mele divides his time between 17th Street and the Sewell, N.J., Giovanni & Pileggi location. He kisses his clients warmly, and they hug him back like he's family. Mele has a charming, disarming habit of putting his chin right on top of your head as he examines your hair, so close you can read "Versace" on his suit buttons. The best part is that he listens, and makes sure the results are what you asked for.

Ask Mele for a fashion forecast and your head will swim in the details he provides. He dissects style into applicable science and easy techniques anyone can use. When asked about "big hair," he advises that the new big hair is flat on the top, and loaded with volume everywhere else. To create this style, he divides the hair into sections, spraying each, and wrapping it around a hair spray bottle. The sections are pinned, and after sitting under the dryer for a while, the result is J. Lo waves and tons of body -- and an easy new trick to try at home.

While Pileggi would refer to her own understated style as "conservative" (and keeps her hair short and neat), she is an elegant woman, preferring tailored suits and crisp white shirts over more fleeting trends. This doesn't mean the Pileggi Boutique doesn't go to the edge fashion-wise once in a while. She, along with primary buyer and co-owner Mark Baumgardner, take the same approach to fashion as they do to hair: they see what's going on in Paris and London each season, then subtly adapt the latest trends to fit the Philadelphia customer. Pileggi says her clients represent a wide range. "We draw from all walks of life. Wealthy matrons, male and female lawyers, young people and children." Pileggi also works with the 2002-03 Eagles cheerleaders. "We've got girls coming out of our ears!" she laughs. It was back in 1977 that she first started working with the Eagles, when Leonard Tolson's wife Caroline called asking for Pileggi's expertise on doing the hair for the Eagles' first-ever cheerleaders, the Eagle-ettes.

Of course, it isn't all glamour and cheerleaders. Pileggi has displayed a strong commitment to charities, most significantly breast health. She also values education, and wants her employees to learn the best techniques from the best schools in the world, then come back home and use them in her salons.

One interesting trend she's seen come around, slightly modified from the first time it appeared, is the mohawk. "Three of my kids just came back from a four-day training class in London, all pumped up and excited. They all had baby mohawks, not like the mohawks we remember from the '70s." It's true: The woman who'd rather be buttoned up gets as excited about mohawks as her staff does. And just ask her about her favorite haircut: it was one her husband gave her with cuticle scissors when they were on vacation together in Paris. Short, wispy and very chic. "He was my inspiration, my confidant. I haven't had a haircut I've loved so much since," she says. That doesn't mean she'll ever stop seeking out new techniques.