Talking Shop With Vidal Sassoon

Mr. Vidal Sassoon has a way of saying "Los Angeles" that makes this city sound so charming, so cosmopolitan, yet so old-world, that even I find myself feeling far more enchanted than usual by being in this city, in the sunshine, at the end of February.  He pronounces it "Los An-jell-eeeez," with a lilting British accent and permanent tongue in cheek, and I wish wholeheartedly that I could get away with saying it this way, rather than the requisite resident's slurred, hasty "EllAy."

How do I know how the greatest hairstylist of the 20th century pronounces the name of my town? I had the good fortune to be invited to speak with him a few days ago, as part of the promotion he's doing for the new documentary about his life. Slightly odd how much it seemed like a culmination of my years of interest in the psychology of haircuts;* my accidental entry into the world of Vidal Sassoon hair modeling; and my dubious, but apparently trusted by the media, status as a fashion blogger.

*my first creative journalism piece was a study of people's emotional connection to their hair. Turns out that people look to their hair not just to reflect their personalities, but actually to help them change their identities to the outside world. Next time your girlfriend chops all her hair off, ask her what else she's trying to leave behind!

I was more than excited to speak with the man who had singlehandedly eliminated the 1960s woman's need to get her hair "set" every week, sleep with a hairnet, and generally shoo children, lovers and flying objects away from her carefully laquered 'do.  The young Vidal saw the absurdity and "I made up my mind, if I was going to be in hairdressing, I wanted to change things." Change things he did, with revolutionary ways of cutting hair so that it fell into shape, rather than having to be pinned and glued there.

This photo, which I've had tacked on my wall forever, turns out to be a (very!) young Grace Coddington after receiving the first legendary Five-Point Cut from Vidal Sassoon. 

Me after my first Five-Point Cut
(lack of combing doesn't do the awesomeness of this haircut justice)

So ANYWAY, I called in for the interview, and after a few minutes of waiting on the line with a blogger from BellaSugar, one from Metromix, and a couple of others, we heard a secretaryish voice announce, "I have Vidal Sassoon for you." My my, you don't say. And my, my... a more charming, articulate, mahhhhvelous 82-year-old man I've never spoken to. WHAT a doll. And by "doll" I suppose I mean "incredibly accomplished, funny man, able to make small talk as well as discuss his role in the women's movement and OMIGOSH THAT ACCENT!" I mean, half the notes I wrote down are about the charming things he said, with little hearts next to them (e.g. "If everyone calls me Vidal, I'll feel much better. Mr Sassoon is a banker.")

What I always wonder, when I go to the Sassoon Academy to get my hair newly shorn by a stylist who is guaranteed to take at least an hour perfecting the levelness of my bangs (excuse me, my "fringe"), is how closely the current M.O. there corresponds to Vidal's original methods. I've heard their spiel about him, and about the attention to detail and careful rules of the techniques he pioneered, but ever since hearing that he was no longer officially running the Sassoon empire, I've been curious as to how, well, legit their worshipping-him-as-a-god is.  Are they forever faithful, or is it in name only and the standards and methods have swerved off his road over the years? So I asked him: are you happy with the way that the academies and salons bearing your name represent your work?

In short: yes.  The emphasis on the rigorous training that his original partners, Roger Thompson and Christopher Booker, put all stylists through, which was then repeated when those stylists trained others, worked the way Vidal intended: it kept the finer points of his teachings pure. "Keeping that standard was key," Vidal explained, and now, "Every time I walk into one of our salons -- ours, mind you, not just any salon with our products shown off in the window -- I'm thrilled that the attention to detail and shape and technique has lasted."  I told him that I certainly thought it had, and that people on the street stop me to tell me how fine my haircuts are, and he laughed and asked if I wouldn't mind standing on the street outside the salon telling the same story.

But the story that's much more interesting is his -- how a boy raised in a London orphanage fell in love with modern architecture and in turn modernized hair -- and the film, just out, that tells it, alongside the story of the man behind the making of the film, none other than Bumble and bumble founder Michael Gordon.  No matter how important or utterly unimportant the vast world of haircuts is to you, this is a film about passion and about revolution. 

Oh yeah... and some TOTALLY AWESOME '60s OUTFITS.  Ohh baby.

For more info on Vidal Sassoon: The Movie, check out the official site.