Vidal Sassoon turned the industry on its
head by cutting designer Mary Quant’s hair into a geometric bob,
followed by actress Nancy Kwan’s asymmetrical bob and the impact was
sensational. His avant-garde styles were christened ‘wash and wear’ and
freed women from tripping to salons for weekly sets followed by regular
comb ups. He’d created a cut that women could wash, condition, and run
their fingers through; lacquer–free locks that moved – it was a
revolution.
“We discovered Vidal Sassoon from magazines like British Vogue and Town & Country,”
remembers Beale, by now lauded, at 17, as Australia’s youngest salon
manager for the select Hicks, Atkinson department store in Melbourne.
“Vidal
really filled in that missing link in the London fashion scene. You had
Biba and the Beatles and the bouffant just didn’t suit the fashion,” he
says. By then – and a hot property – he was on the same wave length at
the Regency Room with the likeminded Leopold, the two joined forces
starting the Leopold Salon in 1965. “We were quick enough to pick up on
this new trend and we began experimenting with the five-point cut. When
our clients went to London, we sent them to Sassoon,” says Beale, “And
he would send back very complimentary messages. He would actually stop
his work in the salon to show off our work, that was really a copy of
his.”
“We were just doing the opposite of everybody else,”
says Leopold. “For us, the cut was king and we were just blow-drying
the hair when everyone else was still setting it. It sounds so
ridiculous now but in those days it was big time.”
“It was an
amazing time,” confirms Beale. “We were out there on our own. If
anything, there was a resistance. People refused to believe that this
was the way it was going. A lot was holding your ground with the
clients. The moment you compromised you started doing hair like
everybody else.”
Back at Silhouette, Lomas was also seduced by
Sassoon’s influence. Now apprenticed to a British Sassoon-trained
stylist, Lomas was working amongst “A group of sharp guys from
overseas. I was one of the first to start doing those Sassoon cuts and
using the blow-dryer,” he says. “We started transforming that period of
big hair to really soft and natural and concentrating on geometric
lines.” On completing his apprenticeship, Lomas was London-bound with a
portfolio of photographic session work under his arm, unheard of here
at that time.
These days, a dedicated session stylist is an
essential on any fashion shoot but in the 60s Tabberer recalls going to
the salon nearly every day for a comb-up when she modeled for Helmut
Newton. “You didn’t have hairdressers in the studio like today, so you
had to get your hair done and then you managed it yourself on the day
on the shoot.” In London, Lomas worked for the Ginger Group and soon
built up an enviable client list that ran from royalty to rock stars to
girls-about-town like Christine Keeler.
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