Leonard of Mayfair
Leonard Lewis (15 June 1938
His film work is also renowned..
In 1988, a brain tumour effectively ended his career. His death was announced on 1 December 2016.
Early life
Lewis was born in Notting Hill Gate in June 1938,[4] the youngest of four children to parents, Amelia and John,[4] but soon moved to Shepherd's Bush. His sister Rene, who was twenty years old when he was born, helped bring him up when his mother's eyesight began to fail[4]
After a brief stint working at an auction house in Putney[4] and also as a barrow boy,[3] he used his savings to pay for his hairdressing apprenticeship at Evansky's in Mount Street, London, and trained with the legendary Rose Evansky.[4][6] Here he met Nigel Davies, a fellow hairdresser. The pair moved to Vidal Sassoon's salon at 171 New Bond Street, London W1. Davies changed his name to Justin de Villeneuve.[7]
Career
Leonard stayed for one year with Sassoon during which he was trained to cut "the Vidal way". Leonard and Vidal, both from Shepherd's Bush, became firm friends.
In 1961, John Lennon and Paul McCartney went to Paris for two weeks to stay with Hamburg friend Jürgen Vollmer. They both decided to get their hair cut the way Jurgen and many French youth had their hair styled at the time. Jurgen cut their hair in his hotel room on The Left Bank, but the style lacked the boyish appeal that their manager Brian Epstein wanted. Epstein took them to The House of Leonard, where the hairdresser shaped their pudding basin fringes into the ‘moptop’ cut that swept the world. Paul remained a client for decades.[citation needed]
In 1966, Justin de Villeneuve brought a 15-year-old girl called
Leonard trained many of Britain's leading hairdressers, including; Daniel Galvin, John Frieda, and Nicky Clarke. "He was a genius; his work was ahead of its time. To this day, many of London’s top stylists owe a debt of gratitude we can never fully repay," Nicky Clarke was quoted as saying.[8] Michael Gordon, founder of Bumble & Bumble, remembers him from 1969: "In his heyday Leonard was very handsome, stylish and cool. His House of Leonard was a perfect tribute to his style. It was a salon like no other in London and Leonard Lewis quietly reigned".[2] "Hairdressers are still either ex-Leonard or ex-Sassoon’s," Nicky Clarke was quoted as saying.[4] Leonard and Vidal would remain friends, with Vidal once saying, "Without the working ability of Leonard, I might not have reached where I did".[5]
Leonard's career in film started with
He was hair and wig adviser on Doctor Zhivago, Flash Gordon and Ragtime. Among the other films Leonard worked are The Boy Friend (1971) starring Twiggy and directed by Ken Russell; Murder on the Orient Express (directed by Sidney Lumet, 1974) as well as The Bounty with Roger Donaldson in 1984.[4]
Leonard was a judge for two Miss World pageants.[citation needed]
Personal life
Lewis married model Ricci Wade. They had a son Dominic.[4] In 1980, he married Petra Arzberger, a German heiress.[4] They later divorced. He died on 30 November 2016.
Books
Leonard of Mayfair by Leonard Lewis, written with Andrew Crofts, was published by Hutchison in 2000.
References
- ^ Horwell, Veronica (15 December 2016). "Leonard of Mayfair obituary". Retrieved 8 June 2019 – via www.theguardian.com.
- ^ a b Gordon, Hiett (2002). Hair Heroes. Bumble and Bumble 2002. pp. 185–205.
- ^ a b c d e Mower, Sarah (June 1991). "Hot Hairdressers". Vogue UK.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q West, Carinthia (May 1992). "Leonard's Second Wave". Tatler Magazine.
- ^ a b c d e f g Baird Murray, Kathleen (20 May 2012). "A Tale of Two Legends". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 23 October 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
- ^ Baird-Murray, Kathleen (24 September 2012). "Meet the 90 Year Old Inventor of The Blowout". W Magazine. Retrieved 14 April 2013.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b Sassoon, Vidal (2010). Vidal Sassoon, The Autobiography. Macmillan Publications. pp. 90–111.
- ^ a b Leighton, Harold (2004). From Salon to Celebrity. Seven Publications. p. 92.
- ^ Cartner-Morley, Jess (19 September 2009). "Twiggy at 60: 'It's Amazing I didn't Go Bonkers". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
- ^ a b Dening, Penelope (1997). Twiggy in Black and White. Simon & Schuster.
External links
- Leonard of Mayfair at IMDb