Marika Suha

korbybanner.com photos

Marika Suha before, left, and after her Style By Jury makeover.

What’s your first impression of Marika Suha?

Our jury saw someone who looked like she walked right out of the 1980s punk-rock scene. With her black platform boots, plaid micro skirt, leather jacket, lip ring and dog collar, she looked downright scary.

When Marika first adopted her look that was exactly the reaction she was after, and she relished her punk nickname, “Scary Mary.”

“I wanted to be tough, untouchable, unknowable and put a barrier between me and everyone else.”

One juror quipped that 20 years later she was, “way past the cut-off date for that style.”

Marika works as a hairstylist, and she’s tried to change her own look but always lost her nerve. So we took her to see psychologist Dr. Ana Bodnar, (www.AnaBodnar.com). Marika admitted the recent death of her mother had left her devastated.

“She hated my punk look … I don’t want to be Scary Mary anymore … I just want to be Marika. I love her and miss her … it’s sad that she’s not here to see me change.”

The first change on the outside would be Marika’s teeth, which had been damaged by neglect, and chipped from years of banging against her lip ring. Our dentists, Dr. Afsar and Dr. Charkiw, gave her eight upper and six lower Pro-Art dental veneers (www.Pro-ArtDentalLab.com). Dr. Charkiw also made her promise to remove the ring.

“Mouth piercings are actually very bad for your teeth — they cause chips, fractures, you name it, it does it.”

Marika’s next stop was with our cosmetic dermatologist, Dr. Kucy Pon, who gave her a treatment with Botox and Restylane, and a chemical peel.

Then it was off to our fashion stylist David Clemmer. He looked at the plaids, leathers and black outfits in Marika’s closet and declared, “they made her look like a cross between a British schoolgirl and a superhero.” He took her shopping at TNT Blu boutique (www.TNTTheNewTrend.com).

“Marika loves black so I showed her how to wear the right black, with outfits featuring feminine touches, and beautiful lace.

Then it was hairstylist meets hairstylist when Marika stopped in to see Johnny Cupello. He wanted to cut off some of the damage.

Marika resisted. “I don’t want to look like a boy … I want it to be pretty.” They settled on a look that Johnny called rock-star chic.

“With espresso colour and caramel highlights she can let it be pretty if she wants — or funky.”

Marika’s final touches came from our rock star make-up artist Korby Banner. But her transformation wasn’t done yet. Dr. Bodnar had a challenge for her, and a task that would help this former punk rocker make peace with her past and look to the future, but leave her in tears.