The most famous hairdresser in the world tells his fascinating life story
Vidal Sassoon's extraordinary life has taken him from an impoverished childhood to global fame as the father of modern hairdressing, whose slick sharp cutting took the fashion world by storm. His memoir begins with surprising and often moving stories of his early life—his time at the Spanish & Portuguese Jewish Orphanage in Maida Vale, fighting fascists in London's East End, and fighting in the army of the fledgling state of Israel in the late 1940s. He then discusses his extraordinary career, during which he cut the hair of everyone who was anyone—including Mary Quant, Grace Coddington, Twiggy, Rita Hayworth, and Mia Farrow; launched salons all over the world; founded the hairdressing school that still bears his name; and became a global brand. He also shares the passions that drive him—architecture and beautiful women, Israel and anti-Semitism, family ties and season tickets at Chelsea. The compelling memoir of a genuine fashion icon who reinvented the art of hairdressing.
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Vidal Sassoon was born in London in 1928. He began his hairdressing career as an apprentice during the Second World War. Today, his name is still associated with the salons and the hairdressing schools he founded in the 1960s. He lives in London and Beverly Hills and in 2009 he was made a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours.
This is a surprisingly thoughtful autobiography by Vidal Sassoon. I came to it after seeing "Vidal Sassoon: The Movie," an excellent documentary. I was moved by his rise from humble circumstances by dint of hard work and by his hunger for learning. I knew Vidal Sassoon was a revolutionary hair stylist but never imagined I would be so riveted by the story of his life and by his voice. The book and the movie both capture the excitement of London in the sixties. Sassoon single-handedly modernized hairstyling in the twentieth century and all hair salons today bear the impress of that revolution. I couldn't put the book down.
Vidal Sassoon changed the hair industry, both with his revolutionary design ideas and the techniques used to create them. It's difficult today to comprehend the uphill battle he fought to follow his vision. Many hairstylists of the day hated him and looked forward to the day this upstart and his "fad" would simply go away and let them get back to doing hair the way they'd been doing it...forever. But the 1960's was an exciting decade of revolutionary ideas. Music, clothing, lifestyles were forever changed. And he was the man driving the change in hair design. I genuinely enjoyed this autobiography, it gave me deeper insight into the man behind the scissors, his family life and passions outside of the salon.
