In our celebrity-obsessed culture, it is all too often that a client walks into the salon with an image and says, “I want to look like this.” Real women aspire to the looks and lifestyles of their favorite celebrities.

The obsession began when supermodel covers of fashion magazines were replaced with Hollywood’s hottest stars calling out from the newsstands.

As image-makers, the professional beauty industry has embraced the celebrity culture. Stylists perform magic on the hair of celebrities, getting them ready for the red carpet, creating the looks on television shows and in movies, making sure their hair is perfect for photo shoots and setting trends for the rest of the world to follow.

They also work their hardest to re-create these looks for the clients that covet them. But according to Sexy Hair Founder Michael O’Rourke, “No one can look exactly like a particular celebrity. The point is you try your very best to simulate a certain celebrity hair style, working with the individual client’s particular features and type of hair. There are times when the request is totally ridiculous, but you have to do your best.”

Hair by Michael O’Rourke, assisted by Luis Salinas and Sarah Jenkins; photography by Robert Ascroft, robertascroft.com; photostyling by Sharice Massehians; make-up by Jake Bailey for Max Factor; nails by Kelvin St. Pham and Mie Asada

Silver dress by Bora Aksu; white tank by Alternative Apparel. For nails and hands, Misa products.

Manufacturers like Sexy Hair are jumping on board the celeb ship as well, aligning with celebrities to give a recognizable face to their product. The company attached rising star Katharine McPhee to their brand last year.

“We really wanted to find someone that personified Sexy Hair and Katharine does that. She’s sexy, fresh, fun, young and  recognizable,” explains Jim Morrison, president and CEO of Sexy Hair.

“I think Kat is a great example of the next generation of Hollywood femininity,” comments O’Rourke.

Cover girl McPhee is no stranger to the spotlight. She’s been singing and acting since she was a child, and with her runner-up title on American Idol, she became a face recognized by America.

McPhee has just wrapped the Adam Sandler-Happy Madison production I Know What Boys Like, is set to star in Twist of Fate scheduled to film next year, and is returning to the studio to begin work on her second album.

And as far as Sexy Hair goes, Morrison says, “Katharine has been great for us. We’ve had an increase in visibility and we’re in the middle of our best year ever. We know that our partnership with her played a role in all of that.”

O’Rourke created a sexy but softened loose down style for McPhee’s cover look with a barrel-curl set and classic comb-out. Punctuated with smoldering eyes and red-red lips, the look is right for Valentine’s Day 2008.