After a tough winter, an Asheville mom keeps it casual. Her new look totally sizzles.

by Mick Kelly . photo by Matt Rose

Winter is a tough time to look glamorous. Especially when storm after storm dumps snow on Western North Carolina, which means babysitters get stranded, work and school get canceled and kids stay home inside for days on end. Not to mention the fact that the usual cold-weather gear includes layers and layers of bulky, bland clothing.

Rachel John has had all this to deal with and more. She’s a 31-year-old Asheville mom who lives in Oakley with her husband Zeke, their three-year-old daughter Ivy and three dogs, Tic Tac, Sage and Rory. John, who moved here in 2003 after taking classes at Penland, works full time as a waitress at the Tunnel Road restaurant Pomodoro’s. In the past few months, her whole family got the flu, and she got yet another stomach virus after her flu was finished. To top it all off—morning sickness. John, a Michigan native, is currently five months’ pregnant with her second child. “This is the best time in the world for this,” she told VERVE when we called her in January about pampering her for a day and helping her spruce up her look.

John usually has a sporty, outdoorsy look with little makeup and low-maintenance, casual clothes. She frequently cuts and colors her own hair, and everyone seems satisfied with the result. “He doesn’t even care if I brush my hair,” she says of her husband Zeke.

For her makeover, the staff at The Sanctuary in Hendersonville dressed John in bright white jeans with splashes of unusual color on top—an indigo scarf, plus a mustard top under a dark sweater. That rule about no white after Labor Day? “There are no rules anymore,” says The Sanctuary’s Laurie Lowe. “We go with whatever works.” And tight-fitting white pants certainly work when you’ve got great legs like John’s.

At Moxie Salon in downtown Hendersonville, stylist Danielle Shook trimmed six inches of John’s flowing blonde locks and gave her hair a light chestnut brown color. “I’ve gotten a lot of compliments on it,” John said a few days after the makeover. John even bought a straightening iron for styling when she has time, and a tinted lip gloss to mimic the makeup job that Suzanne Warren of Blue Sky MD gave her that day. “I’m trying to spice it up a little bit,” John says. A good goal for anyone in the depths of winter.

Clothing by The Sanctuary in Hendersonville. 828-698-2646.

Hair by Danielle Shook of Moxie Salon & Spa in Hendersonville. 828-697-0317 or www.moxiesalonandspa.com.

Makeup by Suzanne Warren of Blue Sky MD in Hendersonville. 828-693-9199 or www.blueskymd.com.