Vidal Sassoon, a documentary by Craig Teper, is an
extraordinary journey into the life of a man, who has forever changed the way
women look and carry themselves. The eye-opening biography of Vidal Sassoon
shifts the focus from his multimillion world-renowned empire and takes the
viewers back to his humble beginnings at the time of the Great Depression and
his childhood in the Jewish orphanage. A medley of biographical information and
the endearing comments of the artist himself create an entertaining yet
informative film, gradually exploring Sassoon’s laborious path to recognition.
A scene at the synagogue stands out in its almost voyeuristic zoom into the private and highly spiritual nostalgia of Sassoon: “72 years ago, this is where I used to sit. I was a choirboy. The choir master...he’d rap my knuckles on occasion…(laughs)…’cause, you know, we were kids and we were naughty at times. But they were charming services. They were very warm, very gentle. Right now at this moment…I don’t know if I did then…I was far too young. But right now, I am feeling rather spiritual. There is a sense of peace here.” Vidal Sassoon steps off the pages of Forbes magazine and lets the audience glance at the real man, who had many challenges on his path yet learned and incorporated his experiences successfully into a vision that was revolutionary.
A scene at the synagogue stands out in its almost voyeuristic zoom into the private and highly spiritual nostalgia of Sassoon: “72 years ago, this is where I used to sit. I was a choirboy. The choir master...he’d rap my knuckles on occasion…(laughs)…’cause, you know, we were kids and we were naughty at times. But they were charming services. They were very warm, very gentle. Right now at this moment…I don’t know if I did then…I was far too young. But right now, I am feeling rather spiritual. There is a sense of peace here.” Vidal Sassoon steps off the pages of Forbes magazine and lets the audience glance at the real man, who had many challenges on his path yet learned and incorporated his experiences successfully into a vision that was revolutionary.
“Great architects was where I came from. That was my
inspiration. The Bauhaus architecture. For me, hair meant geometry, angles of
bone structure. Cutting uneven shapes as long as it suited that face and that
bone structure. So it meant in essence getting away from the old-fashioned. I
say old-fashioned but very pretty. I can’t knock it. It was beautiful
hairdressing. But it wasn’t for me. I wanted to eliminate the superfluous and
get down to the basic angles of cut and shape.”
As the film reminisces of Nancy Kwan in Vogue and the
revolutionary Five-point haircut of Grace Coddington, a collage of images forms
and dazzles the imagination. The 1960’s that were at once innocently playful
and fiercely innovating marked the era of new creative frontiers and kick-started
the career of passionate personal involvement, persistence and self-sacrifice.
And that, my friends, is more than inspiring at the beginning of the work week : )
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