Hair Raising

“It’s deeper than just me,” muses legendary hairstylist Vidal Sassoon on the new documentary about his life. “It belongs to the craft.” Initially conceived by Bumble and Bumble founder Michael Gordon as a short film to give to Sassoon upon his 80th birthday, the project quickly evolved into the feature-length Vidal Sassoon the Movie, celebrating not only the hairstylist’s life but the art of the profession itself. “It was a process of trying to put pieces together in a way that I thought it should be told—it wasn’t necessarily the way Vidal remembered it,” explains Gordon. “When some people are making history they don’t really realize what they’re doing.” The film, which debuted at last week’s Tribeca Film Festival, follows Sassoon’s life, covers Sassoon's beginnings in an orphanage, his apprenticeship as a teen “shampoo boy” in London, and a stint in the Israeli army before he found international celebrity with his salon, established in 1954. Sassoon’s revolutionary approach freed women’s tresses from the need for pins and sprays, and created a host of era-defining styles, including the bobs he snipped for Mary Quant’s runways and the five-point geometric style—which he explains himself in today’s exclusive clip. Sassoon’s passion is still evident: “If you were to ask me what was the moment of complete joy, it was sharing; it was knowing that our work was not just copied but people utilized it, learned from it and then used their own artistry. That’s what it’s all about.”