Friday, August 3, 2012

Athletica, Vidal Sassoon's legacy is still alive at the London Olympics

By Laura Medina

This London Olympics has a special touch that is rich in history.

Not just in sports history but also in women's liberation through sports and fitness and Vidal Sassoon and how he wanted to make it for women to participate in sports.

Here is some trivia for you beauty and sports nuts.

It was Vidal Sassoon who gave Dorothy Hamill her iconic wedge mop top.  The shorter hair not only improved the ease of movement and sight,  the faster she spun, the better the cut moves with hair, highlighting her skating to the point of winning the gold medal in 1976.

Eight years ago, Sassoon was the 1984 Summer Olympics' official hair care consultant to the athletes, creating a collection of haircuts and styles complementing each sport, for his adapted hometown of Los Angeles.

The Olympics always had a special spot on Vidal's heart.

Now, that the 2012 Summer Olympics are in his hometown, London.  The ATHLETICA Collection is even more poignant.


Mark Hayes, Vidal Sassoon's International Creative Director and his team, culled through archives of women Olympic sport stars and ground-breaking women athletes then used their fashion, lifestyle, attitude, and obviously, their bobbed haircuts as the basis for this current Athletica Collection for this Summer and Fall/Winter 2012.

The Twenties' Flapper Bob did more than just emancipated women from cumbersome buns of the 19th Century, it was a more practical haircut for women entering sports in general.

Mark took the pleats from the Marion Hollins' golfing skirt (she was the first woman professional golfer and golf course designer) as inspiration for graduated layers and flowing veils highlighting the cheeks, the temples, and the jaw line for placement of color for the depth of lowlights and highlights.


Suzanne Lenglen, tennis' first woman superstar and fashionista, her bob is obviously the foundation for the Athletica Collection and her swingy tennis skirt inspired Vidal to put the swing in Dorothy Hamill's wedge cut which Mark morphed into graduated curved layers.


This the 2012 London Olympics/Athletica's take on the Dorothy Hamill wedge mop top, first created by Vidal Sassoon then slimmed down with less bulk by Mark Hayes.



Vidal Sassoon's basic template has always been following the curvature of the head, skull, and face structure.  The temples, the cheeks, and jaw are used as pivot and reference points for a haircut that flows with the movement, emphasizing the bone structure, and giving the hair vitality through swing.

It is not just the historical Bob that offer inspiration but the Olympic medals and rings as well.

The Olympic rings influenced the placement of concentric application of lowlights and highlights on the crown.

The Gold Medal offers warmth.  The Silver Medal offers cool tones.  The Bronze Medal adds in a rosy sheen while the Olympic Flame gives a fiery red.


Vidal trained his team and staff to use his precise cutting and styling on all types of hair textures and lengths.

If the client want a longer version, a Sassoon stylist can do that.  If a client wants a precise bob with curly, thick hair-no problem.

For kinky, curly hair, Mark Hayes did a "reverse graduated" Bob or Upside-Down Bob where the curved layers frame the face, the eyes, and the cheekbones.

These are the Bobs and the Crop Tops for the Twenieth-First Century...and Vidal would had been so proud...and they're for his hometown Olympics.



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