Letter from the Editor: Celebrity Illawarra stylists deliver a masterclass in fashionable makeover

It’s Thursday afternoon and as I’m walking through Wollongong Central with Donny Galella, a woman shrieks and grabs him for a hug.

“I haven’t seen you for about 30 years,” Donny says. The pair have a quick catch-up as we continue walking. Someone waves, an older lady says hello and another woman swoops in for a chat and a hug.

They don’t see Donny Galella, the Australian fashion celebrity stylist, they see Donny Galella the West Wollongong boy, who went to St Therese Primary School and Edmund Rice College. They see a former workmate, a family friend, a schoolmate.

There are no airs and graces about this ‘Gong boy done good, just a guy who clearly loves what he does.

“It’s been such a wild ride,” he says.

“If someone had said to me, ‘You’re going to make hats, going to be a milliner, you’re going to dress Drew Barrymore, or you’re going to meet Sophia Loren’ – no. I would never have predicted the journey, but it’s just been really cool.”

Donny’s on a flying trip back to his hometown in between Melbourne Fashion Week and the spring racing season, where he’s in high demand.

He and fellow Illawarrior, cosmetics guru and hair and makeup artist to the stars, Melissa Gigliotti, are headlining Wollongong Central’s Spring Summer Soiree which runs until tomorrow (Sunday 27 October).

It features group masterclasses, personalised styling and beauty sessions.

And for this fortunate editor, a VIP one-on-one session with both Donny and Melissa.

Whereas once I would never leave the house without makeup, and enjoyed spending money on clothes, shoes and handbags, today I’m a mere shadow of my former stylish self.

The COVID years and working from home (which made dressing up redundant), an internal heating system that made makeup a chore rather than a cheer and an ageing attitude of “I really don’t care” have combined to become a very casual me. And unless I’m looking for a special outfit, I tend to buy a lot of clothes from op shops.

I warmed to Donny as he explained what my fashion styling session would involve.

“It’s about getting out of the comfort zone, because when you go shopping, you kind of go into autopilot. You’ll go to the same brands, you’ll go to the same styles. You go for the shapes that you know work, the colours,” he explains.

“For me, it’s about looking outside all that – what are your best assets, what are you confident with, how can I make you feel more confident? Colours, body shapes, all that comes into play.”

For Donny it’s all about styling, which started as a young boy when he loved sketching and drawing. He’d visit his neighbours and spend hours styling their Barbie dolls, something that definitely wasn’t encouraged in his Italian home.

His fashion career started when a friend who was going to the races was looking for a hat and told him how expensive they were.

“I went to Spotlight, I whipped up a hat, and she won fashions on the field. And all these women were like, can you make me a hat? Then I made a few more hats and I would put them on a few different celebrities and then Myer called and asked if they could stock my hats – I’m literally making hats on my coffee table.

“As I was making my hats, I was then saying ‘when you wear my hat, wear this dress and wear this shoe and wear these stockings and wear this bag and do your hair like that. I really preferred this holistic styling of someone head to toe, not just a hat. I saw how that helped their confidence.”

So back to helping this editor’s confidence.

“It’s all about let’s accentuate our good and people will notice the good, and the parts we don’t like, we’re going to cleverly camouflage and people don’t notice that. That’s really the tip to styling.

“I always say clothes are powerful. Clothes are transforming. If you put on a good outfit, you feel good. I always call it a GOD, and that sense stands for a Good Outfit Day. Not God up there, GOD as in a good outfit day.”

We headed out to Wollongong Central to put his fashion theory into action. We’d decided to look for an outfit suitable for me to wear to The Illawarra Connection bi-monthly black-tie dinners.

Usually I spend the week prior to these dinners panicking about what to wear, trying on everything slightly formal in my wardrobe, rejecting them all and throwing myself on the mercy of a girlfriend with a beautiful wardrobe in my size.

Shopping with a “celebrity fashion stylist” is a fascinating experience – and great fun. Donny zooms in on the formal clothes and explains why one is good – high waist, small shoulder covering – and the next is bad – slimline, cowl neck, spaghetti straps.

I was curious why Donny hadn’t asked me about colour preference – my go-to is always black, sometimes red, maybe dark blue. He explained navy or green were more suited to my eyes, and navy was less severe than black.

We walked into Pinkk and within a few minutes our eyes locked across a gorgeous, slightly shimmery, red-burgundy frock. It ticked all the boxes – V neck, short sleeves, ruching to hide the tummy, my colour, a perfect length and even better it’s in my size.

The clincher was I felt great – it was a GOD dress.

With fashion lessons out of the way, Donny handed me over to Melissa for her to do her hair and makeup magic.

In between her family (husband and two teenage girls) and her Calderwood salon “for the ladies of the Illawarra on the weekends”, during the week Mel treks to Sydney to work with Channel Nine and Channel Seven celebrities.

Like Donny, she is down to earth, easy to talk to, and frankly, a makeup magician.

Mel’s not out to flog a product – not even her own – and she understands that not every woman has the time or the inclination to spend hours on making up their face.

“Makeup shouldn’t be complicated, and it shouldn’t be intimidating.”

Mel stresses the need to care for your skin, ensuring you have a good canvas on which to start work.

Mel’s light touch was reflected in the final result and one I’ll try to replicate. It’s changed my outlook on foundation, eyeshadow and blush and I’m keen to go through my makeup and toss the outdated items to make way for a much more age-appropriate and simple routine.

I cringed when Donny showed me the “before” shot in comparison to the “after” shot. Apart from having professional hair and makeup, I looked happier, my posture was better and dare I say it, I oozed confidence.

“It just shows how powerful clothes can be,” he says.

“And I love that I get to help people build a wardrobe full of good clothes, to empower you, make you look good, make you feel good so often.

“I kind of joke and say, I’m basically a doctor, and my prescription is good clothes.”

Donny may joke about being a doctor, but I can assure you, I’ve never felt that good after visiting the doctor.

With thanks to Donny Galella, Melissa Gigliotti, Pinkk and Wollongong Central. The Spring Summer Soiree is outside David Jones, level 1 in the Gateway Building. Click here for more information and to book one-on-one styling sessions.