Видал Сассун: от сиротства к иконе стиля и воинской доблести

English hairstylist, businessman, and philanthropist

Vidal Sassoon (17 January 1928 – 9 May 2012) was a British hairstylist, businessman, and philanthropist. He was noted for repopularising a simple, close cut geometric hairstyle called the five point cut, worn by famous fashion designers including Mary Quant and film stars such as Mia Farrow, Goldie Hawn, Cameron Diaz, Nastassja Kinski and Helen Mirren. His early life was one of extreme poverty, with seven years of his childhood spent in an orphanage. He quit school at age 14, soon holding various jobs in London during World War II. Although he hoped to become a professional football player, he became an apprentice hairdresser at the suggestion of his mother. After developing a reputation for his innovative cuts, he moved to Los Angeles in the early 1970s, where he opened the first worldwide chain of hairstyling salons, complemented by a line of hair treatment products.

Sassoon was born to Jewish parents in Hammersmith, West London, and lived nearby in Shepherd's Bush. His mother, Betty (Bellin) (1900–1997), an Ashkenazi Jew, was born in Aldgate, in the East End of London, in 1900. Although she was surrounded by grinding poverty, Sassoon writes that she nonetheless resolved to make the best of her life. They met in 1925 and married in 1927. They then moved to Shepherd's Bush, which contained a community of Greek Jews. His father abandoned the family for another woman when Vidal was three years old. until he was 11, when his mother remarried. When she took him to the hairdressing school of a well known stylist, Adolph Cohen, they were disappointed immediately when they were told it was a two year programme and would cost much more than they could afford. "My mother looked so terribly dejected", he said, that as they left the salon, "I thought she might faint." The Daily Telegraph calls him an "anti fascist warrior hairdresser" whose aim was to prevent Sir Oswald Mosley's movement from spreading "messages of hatred" in the period following World War II. In 1948, at the age of 20, he joined the Palmach (which shortly afterwards was integrated into the Israel Defense Forces) and fought in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, which began after Israel declared statehood. Sassoon arrived in Mandatory Palestine in April 1948, a month before Israeli independence. He fought in the Negev against the Egyptian Army. During an interview, he described the year he spent training with the Israelis as "the best year of my life", and recalled how he felt:

blockquote|When you think of 2,000 years of being put down and suddenly you are a nation rising, it was a wonderful feeling. There were only 600,000 people defending the country against five armies, so everyone had something to do. Sassoon opened his first salon in 1954 in London; singer actress Georgia Brown, his friend and neighbour, claimed to be his first customer. Sassoon stated his intentions in 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." Sassoon's works include the geometric perm and the "Nancy Kwan" hairstyles. They were all modern and low maintenance. The hairstyles created by Sassoon relied on dark, straight, and shiny hair cut into geometric yet organic shapes. Peggy Moffitt’s hairstyle, an asymmetrical bowl cut created by Sassoon, became known as the "five point". In 1964, Sassoon created a short, angular hairstyle cut on a horizontal plane that was the recreation of the classic "bob cut." His geometric haircuts seemed to be severely cut, but were entirely lacquer free, relying on the natural shine of the hair for effect. Advertising and cosmetics executive Natalie Donay is credited with discovering Sassoon in London and bringing him to the United States, where in 1965, he opened his first New York City salon on Madison Avenue. In 1966, inspired by 1920s film star Clara Bow's close cropped hair, he created designs for Emanuel Ungaro. Director Roman Polanski brought him to Hollywood from London in 1968, at a cost of $5,000 (5000.0 in 1968 is equivalent to about <calculated amount> in recent years), to create a unique pixie cut for Mia Farrow, who was to star in Rosemary's Baby. John Paul DeJoria, a friend of Sassoon, co founded Paul Mitchell Systems with Paul Mitchell, one of Sassoon's former students. Mitchell said that Sassoon was "the most famous hairstylist in the history of the world." The actor Michael Caine, who when young and struggling "was roommates with Terence Stamp and Vidal Sassoon – he used to cut my hair, and he always had a lot of models around", claimed to have inspired this, saying, "I told him that he must have something that is working for him while he slept. I told him he had to make shampoos and other hair care products." Whatever the inspiration, Sassoon's brand was applied to shampoos and conditioners sold worldwide, with a commercial campaign featuring the slogan "If you don't look good, we don't look good." Former salon colleagues also bought Sassoon's salons and acquired the right to use his name, extending the brand in salons into the United Kingdom and the United States. In 1983, Richardson Vicks purchased the Los Angeles based Vidal Sassoon Inc. as well as Sassoon's Santa Monica, California, hairdressing school; the company had already bought his European businesses. Sassoon's 1982 sales of hair products had topped $110 million, with 80 percent of revenues derived in the US. He sold his business interests in the early 1980s to devote himself to philanthropy. By 2004, it was reported that Sassoon was no longer associated with the brand that bears his name. and 9 October 2011, when he was also Resident Thinker on the Nowhereisland art project. He was a mystery guest on What's My Line? in March 1967.

Sassoon was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in the 2009 Birthday Honours.

Sassoon married his first wife, Elaine Wood, his salon receptionist, in 1956; the marriage ended in 1958. In 1967, he married his second wife, actress Beverly Adams whom he met while filming Torture Garden (1967). They had three biological children and one adopted son: daughter Catya (1968–2002), an actress who died from a drug induced heart attack; son Elan BenVidal (b. 17 January 1970); son David (b. circa 1972); but this appears to be in error. Sassoon and Adams divorced after 13 years of marriage. Sassoon disinherited his son David, from whom he was estranged. In his 2010 autobiography Sassoon described David, adopted in 1975 at age 3, as an "African American / Asian boy with twinkling eyes and an irresistible smile" who nonetheless became troubled and was eventually sent to a reform school.

Sassoon had a lifelong commitment to eradicating anti Semitism. He started the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism, or SICSA, in 1982. He was also active in supporting relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina. It also funded educational pursuits on a need basis in Israel and elsewhere. At the time of his death, he had academies in England, Canada and the United States, while planning to open ones in Germany and China.

In June 2011, it was reported that Sassoon had been diagnosed with leukemia two years earlier. He died on 9 May 2012 at his home in Bel Air, Los Angeles. His death was originally reported to be a result of natural causes, and later reported to have been a result of his leukemia. He died in the presence of his family. Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Kevin Maiberger he was already dead. A memorial service was planned for a later date.

"Vidal was like Christopher Columbus", said Angus Mitchell, who studied under Sassoon. "He discovered that the world was round with his cutting system. It was the first language that people could follow."