On a frigid Wednesday last week, an inexplicable friction left my hair standing on end. Good thing I would be meeting Vidal Sassoon tonight, for the premiere of a documentary Vidal Sassoon: The Movie. I could ask this artist whose shapes defined the look of the ’60’s about the electric gravity defying moment, about the taming of frizz, about my lifelong obsession with hair.
Directed by Craig Teper, the documentary did not feature curls, alas, except maybe Vogue’s Grace Coddington, a radiant redhead whose bob in Sassoon’s ’60’s heyday molded well under his expert heated direction. Rather, it offered glimpses of this American success story: A Jew from England, who never really connected with his father, spent many early years in an orphanage, who sang in synagogue, rose to fame as an artist haircutter, a television personality, and a businessman with a well-known product line. The film limned his fitness regime, work ethic, first marriages, and the tragic overdose of his daughter Catya. Impeccable demeanor intact, he is now happily married to Ronnie, a dark haired woman with bangs, 30 year his junior.
“We both finally got it right,” Ronnie said of this successful marriage at the party at Michael’s where cocktails made with Cointreau and Remy Martin were the drinks of the evening. Marisa Berenson said because she keeps it long, Sassoon never styled her hair, but back in the day, she did wear a lot of wigs inspired by his asymmetrical designs. Stylist Phillip Bloch contemplated his murderous Fashion Week schedule. The film’s producer, Michael Gordon, founder of Bumble & Bumble, said he wanted to document Sassoon’s remarkable career in a book and movie because hair dressers, often embarrassed to say what they do, get no respect.
Now 83, Sassoon looks at the exceptional trajectory of his life with pride. He did not tell me much about how to solve my hair issues, but did say that at age 79, when he was approached to make the movie, he demurred, “Don’t you think I’m a bit young?”
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