Emily Thomas knows good hair. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t have been one of Cutler's most sought-after colorists for over 10 years. And now, Cutler, with two established locations in New York City, has a chic boutique-salon in the Gansevoort Hotel in Miami Beach. Last year, the NYC salon’s owner, Rodney Cutler, asked Thomas to move to Miami to open and manage the company’s newest address. So she made the trek to the land of bleach-blond hair.

The salon prides itself on top level service and an eye for cutting-edge styling, including plenty of runway and editorial – and their own line, Cutler Hair Care, is exploding. Thomas’ task was correspondingly lofty: to bring the energy and panache of Cutler in New York to Miami. During one of her trips back north, Thomas sat down with psychoPEDIA to chat about all things Miami versus New York over a quick coffee around the corner from Cutler Soho on West Broadway. In her own words, here’s her take on the land of South Beach and the hair challenges that await:

When did you move down to Miami to open Cutler’s new location?
I moved in April 2008. So, it’s almost been a whole year I’ve been living down there and traveling back and forth to accommodate my clients who are based in New York City.

How did the collaboration occur with Cutler and the Gansevoort?
What I believe happened is that Rodney Cutler, my boss and owner of Cutler, had a connection to an executive at the Gansevoort. At first, the hotel was only going to carry Cutler hair products in its hotel rooms and through that they decided to have a boutique salon in the Gansevoort. Rodney approached me to open it and what was so enticing for me was that he said, ‘Let’s see how it goes and if it goes well, you could become a partner.’

Cutler does a lot of fashion shows and editorial work in NYC. What’s Miami like?
It’s a mini-New York. It’s funny, because you can be a big fish in a little town. Miami is a big event-driven town. We do a lot of fashion shows with local designers – on rooftops or anywhere in the city. We just did a fashion show for La Perla at the Mondrian.

What would you say is the biggest difference between the clientele in Miami versus New York?
The biggest difference is that the women in New York know ‘pretty hair’ – they know fashion, they know what they like and pride themselves on looking good and polished. Anywhere from that downtown punk-rock chick who knows exactly where to put that one strand of hair to the girls who love blow outs. The one thing about Miami, the people just don’t know pretty hair! I try to encourage them in a kind and fun way. Orange hair with white stripes is just not ‘pretty hair!’ The Jennifer Aniston type with caramel and warm colors that go with your skin, to me, is pretty hair!

Give me a profile of some of your clientele in Miami…
We have a lot of young model girls – celebrities who visit the city. The average woman who comes in is not so much a career woman – the focus is different. Perhaps a woman who is married to a famous athlete and has two or three kids, but knows she wants a great color and haircut.

I’m sure you have a few crazy stories…
There was a celebrity who was staying at the hotel and she wanted a blowout. Towards the end of her blowout, she suddenly demanded, “Can we finish this in the bathroom? The paparazzi is outside!” The assistants went outside to see if it was true and lo and behold there wasn’t! So regardless, I ended up taking her to the dressing room to finish. She then demanded to be escorted through the back of the salon.

Anything else?
We’ve just had a bunch of crazy ladies that are so wealthy, where you’re just fascinated by how crazy they are, as in crazy-interesting. Their lives are just so ‘out there’ in a way. Like this one woman came to stay at the Gansevoort for three weeks, just to stay there – but I think she also owns a house in Miami, Paris and London.

Aside from the paparazzi and the ‘crazy ladies’, what’s been your biggest challenge?
Convincing women that they shouldn’t go blond, when they should stick with their natural hair color. You try telling a fiery Latina woman not to change her hair color!

Who are some of Cutler’s clients that do indeed have ‘pretty hair?’
Rachael Ray is one of our clients. Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber come often to our Soho location and Bjork came in recently. Rodney just did Fergie’s hair for the Grammys – her look was all over the Internet.

~Jessica McMenamin

Go There:
Cutler South Beach, 305.672.4499, 2377 Collins Ave, Miami Beach