Sarah Danysh-Rand DM Photo |Alex Presley
Throughout the years, I have come to dread the small talk that, in our culture, is a formality that comes with having a hair, nail or skin appointment. It is always a surprise to somehow manage to get past the surface-level conversation and to realize that you are actually enjoying yourself.
Sitting at the table at my microdermabrasion appointment, I found myself doing just this. I had an appointment with Sarah Danysh-Rand before and knew that she was a pleasurable person to be around. It didn’t take long until we were on my favorite topic: fashion. She began to open up to me and tell me stories of her days as a student at New York University, working for a major fashion house and the fantastic garments that she had collected over the years.
It was this long, brilliant journey that led her to Oxford. She now works as an aesthetician and masseuse at La Rousse Salon here in town. At the end of our chat, she gave me her card and invited me over to have a look at her wardrobe. I knew this was an opportunity I could not pass up.
Sarah Danysh-Rand’s apartment is filled with mementos and pieces from all over the world that serve as testaments to her many adventures.
You could tell, simply looking at the many pictures of her family and friends, that Danysh-Rand has lived a full life. She showed a couple of things that she had collected while living in New York, California and the other various places she has called home.
Works by designers such as Dolce and Gabbana, Kenzo and Christian Lacroix, among others, fill her closet.
“It is so wonderful to me how I’ve been so many places, and the clothes are the same today as they were then,” Danish-Rand said.
She has lived in many places, including Los Angeles, Bangkok, Paris and Australia. She was born in Carmel, California, to a father who was the president of California College of Arts in Oakland in the ‘50s and whose mother, a successful interior designer, designed the interior for Clint Eastwood’s post-Hollywood home.
She elected to attend New York University to obtain a degree in drama.
Danysh-Rand lived the Upper-East Side life that many only dream of, moving into a building there soon after she began school. She was in the city at an extremely revolutionary time, as the “punk” wave originated in the Big Apple and sent shockwaves all around the world. Interestingly, she was supposed to live in the Hotel Chelsea, which was then used partially for student housing, but was unable to because of the timing of the infamous murder involving Sex Pistols band member Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen.
Her friends included the daughter of a government official of the Soviet Union and the daughter of Willie Brown, who was then the mayor of San Francisco.
Danysh-Rand had always loved fashion and knew she did not want to act for a living.
“I was watching ‘Good Morning America’ one day, and I saw the most beautiful clothing I had ever seen,” Danysh-Rand recalled. “I called in to the show and asked who this designer was. I wanted his information, but I had to give them my contact information instead.”
A time after this phone call, Danysh-Rand received a job with Kristian Leigh, a designer who created garments for Phyllis George, the 1971 Miss America and ex-wife to former Kentucky governor, John Brown. She said she had many enjoyable experiences while working for the designer, including working for the him during Paris Fashion Week.
Years ago, Danysh-Rand sat at a table at one of her favorite restaurants. Paper covered the tables accompanied by crayons to write and color with. She picked up a crayon and began to draw out her life path and explain where all of it had taken her.
“I realized that so many people lived this ‘box’ life, where they grow up doing a certain thing and only know how to live a certain way,” she said.
Danysh-Rand has lived an incredible life in the past and continues to do so in her present. Her advice to young people trying to figure out what to with their lives is simply to live and enjoy it.
“Experience life to the fullest, so that when you look back you have no regrets – loving everyone, hurting no one,” Danysh-Rand said.
