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, warring with 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 hairdressers' art.
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgements xiii
Prologue 1
1 An East End Childhood 5
2 Professor Cohen 28
3 Private Sassoon 49
4 West End Boy 71
5 There's Something About Mary 94
6 Me and Mr Jones 126
7 Suddenly It Happened 143
8 Sassoonery Goes Stateside 159
9 Passing the Yankee Test 168
10 Movie Stars, Mia and Me 187
11 Crimpers' Academy 210
12 'If You Don't Look Good, We Don't Look Good' 237
13 Wash and Go 253
14 A Girl Called Ronnie 273
15 Meetings With Remarkable Men 291
16 Letting Go 308
17 A Bypass Round My Heart 315
18 Hairdressers in a Hurricane 325
19 A One-Man Salon on Capri 335
Index 351
Ann89
Posted October 16, 2011
Vidal, After reading your book, you're life, would have been 100 times better, if you and Beverly and your family had stayed in New York. LA is not good for families, rampant divorce which seems to be contagious! Drugs. We lived there and yes I knew celebrities, but we did not want to raise a family there. You wrote a good book and guess what? I got one of your haircuts in 1964, in LA and the Canadian guy that cut it looked just like you! I thought for a long time, it was and you were just starting out. He cut a perfect, "Cleopatra" haicut on me. I loved it.
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Overview
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, warring with ...