The fashion world has lost an icon. Vidal Sassoon, the English-born hairstylist who revolutionized women’s hairstyles, passed away today at age 84 at his Los Angeles area home. He (thankfully) brought women the art of the ‘wash and wear’ hairstyle – freeing women of the ‘tyranny of the salon’. His geometric cuts were a departure of the overly done hairstyles of the late 40’s and early 50’s – and he introduced the hairstyle that many of us know fondly as the “bob”.

“He changed the way everyone looked at hair. Before Sassoon, it was all back-combing and lacquer; the whole thing was to make it high and artificial. Suddenly you could put your fingers through your hair!” — Grace Coddington, Creative Director, Vogue

An avid soccer player as a child, Vidal Sassoon turned to hairstyling after his mother revealed to him that she had a premonition that he would become a hairstylist. She brought him to a local shop where he was accepted as an apprentice, and he never looked back. All of the hairstyles introduced by Sassoon were very modern and incredibly low-maintenance. His hairstyles focused on dark, straight, and shiny hair that was totally free of product and cut into geometric, yet very organic shapes.

Of course, who can forget his iconic commercials in the 1980’s and the ultimate tagline – “If you dont’ look good – we don’t look good!”

I personally grew up with Vidal Sassoon products lining the walls of my shower, so I felt it was appropriate to remember Mr. Sassoon with a post. I admire him for being such a visionary, yet an incredible business man as well. Thank you Mr. Sassoon – you were and still are an inspiration.

“When I looked at the architecture, the structure of buildings that were going up worldwide, you saw a whole different look, in shape. My sense was hairdressing definitely needed to be changing. To me hair meant geometry, angles. Cutting uneven shapes, as long as it suited that face and that bone structure.” — Vidal Sassoon