Farewell To Iconic Hair Stylist Of Sixties Vidal Sassoon

The greatest hair stylist of all time, and the man responsible for many of the iconic looks of the Sixties – Vidal Sassoon – has died at the age of 84. He is perhaps most famous for creating the ‘wedge bob’, the simple geometric, ‘Bauhaus-inspired’ hairdo that would take the world by storm.

Sassoon opened his first salon in 1954 in London, with the mission of designing new, more efficient, hair styles: ‘If I was going to be in hairdressing, I wanted to change things. I wanted to eliminate the superfluous and get down to the basic angles of cut and shape.’ He prided himself on creating styles that were modern and low-maintenance, privileging dark, straight, and shiny hair that he cut into geometric yet organic shapes.

Besides being an artist, he was also a shrewd businessman, being the first stylist to allow his name to be used on products and salons. The Vidal Sassoon brand was applied to shampoos and conditioners sold worldwide, with a commercial campaign featuring the iconic slogan ‘If you don’t look good, we don’t look good.’ In 1983, Sassoon sold his $113 million-a-year company to the businessman Richardson-Vicks, and the company was then taken over by Procter & Gamble in 1985.

Vidal Sassoon authored several books, including A Year of Beauty and Health co-written with his former wife, Beverly Sassoon. He also had a short-lived television series called Your New Day with Vidal Sassoon, which aired in 1980.

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