Here are five ways in which he changed the world of hair. In the s, hair was about height, curls and hairspray. Women often visited the hairdressers two or three times a week to have their hair elaborately teased and "set".
Hats added even more drama on top of dressed styles. Vidal Sassoon's "wash and wear" cuts of the s changed all that, allowing women to spend less time on their appearance.
According to fashion commentator Caryn Franklin, Sassoon created a "visual aesthetic for modern women wanting to distance themselves from the modern housewife". As more and more women entered the workforce, they needed cuts that would reflect authority and efficiency in a male-dominated world. Speaking to the Los Angeles times in , Sassoon explained: "Women were going back to work, they were assuming their own power.
They didn't have time to sit under the dryer anymore. Sassoon cuts were futuristic, illustrating where "women wanted to go" rather than where they currently were.
Hailed as one of the world's first celebrity hairdressers, Sassoon's client list included Twiggy, Jane Fonda and Mia Farrow. Although he opened his first London salon in , his first New York branch opened its doors in and became one of a string of international salons. Not only was he stylist to the stars, he became a celebrity himself, moving to Los Angeles in the s.
A regular face on television, he appeared in his Sassoon commercials in the 80s alongside famous supermodels. He recently judged the final of reality TV show Shear Genius and a documentary about his life was made in For a hairdresser to become a Hollywood sensation in Sassoon's time "was a mega-mega achievement", says celebrity hairdresser Errol Douglas.
Until then, hairdressers were not typically viewed as stylists, but Sassoon brought a designer image to the industry. At the same time he appealed to ordinary people.
He even — briefly — had his own American television talk show, Your New Day , with a characteristically upbeat emphasis on self-improvement. Losing control of his firm later came to be his greatest regret.
In he married Ronnie Rhonda Holbrook, a designer, and they restored a classic s modernist house in Beverly Hills with glass walls and a polished onyx floor. The dormant architect in Sassoon now had the time and money to indulge his fantasies. Sassoon retained a great loyalty to London, where he loved to see Chelsea playing football.
He claimed that "everything about morality and obligations" he knew had come from following the sport. In he was appointed CBE. He is survived by Ronnie and three of his children. His daughter Catya , a model and actor, died in Vidal Sassoon, hairstylist and businessman, born 17 January ; died 9 May Vidal Sassoon obituary.
His imaginative, practical approach changed hairstyling for ever. Vidal Sassoon cutting the hair of fashion designer Mary Quant.
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