Legacy of Style by Beauty Changes Lives (BCL) at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills brought together beauty pros from the salon world and the freelance world to meet, mingle and make a commitment to elevating beauty as a profession.

 Created by the American Association of Cosmetology Schools (AACS), BCL is a non-profit coalition of beauty professionals including educators, product manufacturers, celebrities and industry icons. Legacy of Style was conceived by Diana Schmidtke, celebrity men’s groomer. Acting as Event Chair and lightning rod, she invited her network of “the stars behind the stars”—hairstylists, men’s groomers, makeup artists and agents—with the goal of enlisting them as mentors to young beauty school students and graduates.

 “I have a special place in my heart for the beauty school student,” says Schmidtke. “I know that my parents were absolutely shocked when I told them that instead of college, I was going to go to beauty school.”

Schmidtke is truly a beauty school success story; she grooms a roster of Hollywood's leading men that has included Jon Hamm,Rob Pattinson, Chris and Liam Hemsworth and Christian Bale.

On her motivation to create this event: “At some point in your career, you have to sit back and think how you can give back.  It came to my attention that there was a disconnect between the professional salon industry and the freelance industry.  My goal was to merge the salon pros with us, the celebrity artists. “ 

Celebrity artists included Peter Butler (Claire Danes), Renato Campora (Katy Perry, Kirsten Dunst, Jessica Alba), Pati Dubrof (Leslie Mann and Jane Krakowski) Ken Paves (Eva Longoria, Victoria Bekham, Enzo Angiler (Charlize Theron, Katie Holmes, Gwyneth Paltrow), Adir Abergel (Anne Hathaway, Demi Moore, Kristen Stewart), and Jenny Cho (Elizabeth Banks, Amanda Seyfried).

This year’s first LEGACY OF STYLE award was presented by BCL President Lynelle Lynch to Vidal Sassoon. Accepting the award in his honor was Sassoon’s daughter Eden Sassoon, who read some never before heard quotes from her father’s journal, including this:

 “But most of all I am proud of the fact that we have trained thousands  of people from all nations, developing talent and minds, which with care have helped beautify this world and I have given our craft international credibility and  dignity.”

This award will be given annually to an individual in the beauty industry who has demonstrated a vision for beauty that follows in the tradition and imagination established by Vidal Sassoon. "We chose Vidal Sassoon as our recipient for the very first year, not only because he is a legend, but because of what he means to our industry," said Lynelle Lynch, BCL President and President of Bellus Academy. "It is BCL's mission to inspire artists to give back to their community, inspire future artists, and create a high level of respect, which is what Vidal Sassoon has done so profoundly. With BCL's scholarship and mentoring programs, we hope to create many more stylists like Vidal Sassoon."

On hand to help present the award were two of BCL’s board members Reuben Carranza, North American CEO, Managing Director, P&G Salon Professional and Robert Passage, Global Ambassador Pivot Point International.

www.beautychangeslives.org.