Revolutionary London-born hairdresser Vidal Sassoon has died of natural causes in his Los Angeles home aged 84 after battling Leukaemia.
Best known for creating the geometric Bauhaus-inspired” bob, Sassoon began his career as a shampoo boy aged 14.
After fighting in the Israeli war of independence, Sassoon opened his own salon in 1954 where he went on to turn hairstyling into a multi-million-dollar industry.
"When I first came into hair, women were coming in and you'd place a hat on their hair and you'd dress their hair around it,” says Sassoon. We learned to put discipline in the haircuts by using actual geometry, actual architectural shapes and bone structure. The cut had to be perfect and layered beautifully, so that when a woman shook it, it just fell back in."
His asymmetrical five-point haircut was introduced in 1963, a time when the Women’s Liberation Movement was popular.
"Women were going back to work, they were assuming their own power. They didn't have time to sit under the dryer anymore," Sassoon told the Los Angeles Times.
Famous clients including Mia Farrow and fashion designer Mary Quant embraced the bob-style created by Sassoon.
Sassoon also went on to develop his own line of .
"We are deeply saddened by the loss of the legendary Vidal Sassoon," says VS Sassoon marketing manager Peter Brewer. "He was an extraordinary talent who literally broke ground. With his geometric cuts, he freed women from the very structured styling of the 50s, allowing them a liberty that went beyond their appearance. We take heart in the fact that he has inspired a new generation of creativity and that so many of his ideas and spirit lives on in contemporary hairdressing and styling."
Sassoon International creative director Mark Hayes told WWD, Our industry has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. The world rarely encounters someone who had the profound impact that Vidal has had, and everyone in the industry is indebted to Vidal’s courage and single-minded vision, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come.”
