By Steve Whipple
MethuenLife Writer

Growing up in Methuen, Anne Marie Concemi was a sharp-dressed girl in her St. Monica School uniform: plaid skirt, crisp green and white top, and dark green knee-high socks.
Fast forward almost 30 years. Concemi and Methuen native Steve Sirmaian establish First Integrity Mortgage. The spunky Harley-riding woman still dresses professionally enough but ... there was much room for improvement.
So when producers of The Learning Channel’s wildly popular “What Not to Wear” contacted a member of Concemi’s motorcycle club, fellow biker Cookie Belcamino knew exactly who was due for an overhaul.
That makeover of Concemi, 45, in New York City – and the mischievous weeks leading to it – will air Friday, March 5 at 9 pm. The enterprising Methuen native has capitalized on the screening, turning that night into a charity event for a 6-year-old Londonderry, N.H., girl with cancer. Beginning at 7 pm, the Kowloon restaurant on Route 1 in Saugus is hosting the premiere party in its second-floor function room. For $25, guests can enjoy refreshments, watch the one-hour show and meet Concemi. The money raised will be donated to longtime friend Marlena Lowe, whose daughter Hannah is recovering from surgery after a softball-size cancerous tumor, her uterus and part of her colon were removed.
“I was flabbergasted. No one had to do this, but the fact that she took a show like ‘What Not to Wear’ and turned it into a fund-raiser is overwhelming, unselfish and appreciated,” said Howe, who had to quit her job to care for Hannah. The girl receives chemotherapy every Thursday but defiantly wears a pink kerchief that reads, “Cancer Fears Me.”
Concemi is married to Whitney and they have sons Sam, 6, and Gus, 6 months. When not doing the family thing or working 50 hours a week, Concemi likes to cruise her 1999 Harley-Davidson Custom Fat Boy with other members of the East Coast Biker Chicks.
Looking to make over a fashion-challenged biker gal, producers of “What Not to Wear” contacted club president Belcamino.
Recalls Concemi, “They said, ‘Do you know anyone in the club who would like to be made over?’ (Cookie) said, ‘I have a friend who is gay, legally married and owns a mortgage company.’ I guess they wanted someone with intelligence.”
Now that they had their woman, producers and a camera crew set out in late August to gather evidence of fashion crashin’.
“A crew flew in from New York for two weeks to see what I was wearing. If I found out this was going on, the deal was off. No one could know this. They do the ‘ambush’ in one take,” explained Concemi.
Cameras inside a blacked-out SUV captured her coming and going to her office at the Riverwalk complex in Lawrence. With Whitney’s blessing, hidden cameras were placed in their home. Concemi’s closet provided punch lines for the show’s hosts, Stacy London and Clinton Kelly, and those close to Concemi.
“My sister Lisa and Whitney went into my closet and they said, ‘Annie actually wears this! Can you believe it?!’ “ laughed Concemi.
With two weeks of footage in the vault, it was time for the ambush. Not an easy task. If Concemi isn’t genuinely shocked, she loses the $5,000 shopping spree, plus hair remodeling and makeup.
In mid-September producers rented Faneuil Hall in Boston for a Saturday ambush – the hosts would startle the unknowing Concemi with criticism of her appearance, followed by a weeklong trip to the Big Apple where she would make big amends.
“My wife called my whole family starting at 8 pm (Friday) to be there the next day for the ambush. Most ambushes have seven ...10...15 people. We had 75,” said Concemi. “Then she had to call everyone back at 10:30 telling people it was going to rain.”
With the ambush ambushed by downpours, the producers called on their old secret agent Cookie. The biker chick picked up Concemi, explaining that they were going to a breast cancer fund-raiser. Instead, they arrived at Boston Harley-Davidson in Revere. There, the TV hosts and a few dozen friends and kin surprised Concemi.
In exchange for her current wardrobe, a shell-shocked Concemi would receive some harsh criticism – but also an all-paid makeover week in New York beginning the next day. Over the next few days, she received a shorter haircut from Angelina Jolie’s stylist Ted Gibson, new threads and makeup.
“I didn’t wear clothes that fit me; now it’s more snug, tailored,” said Concemi. “I even had some Eighties stuff going on. I needed some fine-tuning. I never knew jeans could be used to go out in.”
Her business partner, Methuen native Steve Sirmaian, said, “Believe it or not, I didn’t think she dressed that bad. It was more casual, like cowboy boots and jeans. Annie isn’t the high-heel type, but the clothes she wears now are more stylish. She looks good. I can’t wait to see the show.”