Photo by Alexandria Living Magazine
Monte Durham pauses for a photo Sunday outside his salon in Old Town Alexandria.
Style maven Monte Durham celebrated one year in business in Old Town Alexandria Sunday night with close friends, clients and business partners.
Wearing vintage Gucci adorned with a Mindy Lam brooch, Durham greeted each guest as they arrived on the patio at Hummingbird, the waterfront restaurant at Hotel Indigo. The hotel is next door to Salon Monte, which is located at 210 S. Union, along Alexandria's waterfront.
Guests at Sunday evening's party enjoyed glasses of rosé and champagne and passed hors d'oeuvres that included fried green tomatoes with bacon jam and watermelon with feta cheese and basil, injected with sangria shooters.
Durham said the biggest surprise over the past year in business has been "how welcoming and how well we've been received in Old Town, because you don't know! ... You're opening during a pandemic, an election year — so many things could not have lined up, but they did."
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Photo by Alexandria Living Magazine
Siblings Rich, Monica and Missy Markus enjoy the party. Architect Rich Markus helped design some elements of Salon Monte. The main project architect was Rust | Orling Architecture.
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Another revelation has been "how far-reaching the salon is," Durham said. Clients are coming "from D.C., Maryland, and Northern Virginia but also from Richmond and Charlottesville, to enjoy our city. Once they get here and see the waterfront, they make a day of it. The first trip they may feel it out. The second trip, they bring people and have lunch or dinner."
Durham, whose face became familiar to many over the years due to his starring role with good friend and bridal store owner Lori Allen on TLC's "Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta," continues to work on a regular basis with producers in Baltimore and Los Angeles on ideas for other shows. "We're in the pipeline, we're just waiting for it to open up a little for us," he noted.
Meanwhile, Durham shares his beauty, health and wellness tips on his "very organic" videos on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays to his 70,000-plus followers on Instagram at therealmontedurham.
"I'm trying not to show you I haven't dusted the sideboard that's behind me and making sure Charlie and Rosie our rescue Welsh terriers aren't jumping into the screen," he added with his trademark smile, before returning to his party guests.
The date of Sunday's celebration, Sept. 12, coincided with the wedding date of First Lady Jackie Kennedy, who married John F. Kennedy that day in 1953, seven years before he was elected president. Durham is an avid admirer of the late First Lady and her style and features a portrait of her in his salon.
