We lived opposite the salon in an apartment in Greenhill that was on Hampstead High Street. It was a great address as Hampstead was on a hill, so living on the top floor felt so much higher; you could see all over London.
I had stepped out of just being a salon owner—hairdresser to the general public—and had become a superstar crimper around 1962. Maxine opened up her first of two French "Ready to Wear" boutiques, the first one above the hairdressing salon in a five-story Georgian building, the second one just between Bond Street and Regents Street on Conduit Street, central London.
At this time, I was creating the hair for some of the biggest names in the cosmetic world, Revlon, Max Factor, Gala, Goya and Yardley; working with photographers David Bailey, Barry Lategan, Helmut Newton, Cecil Beaton, and I have to include Sarah Moon, David Montgomery, Terry Donovan, Brian Duffy, Clive Arrowsmith, Bert Stern, and there were many more.
Maxine was dressing top models Jean Shrimpton, Penelope Tree, Moria Swan, Pauline Stone (who became Mrs. Laurence Harvey, and movie stars Catherine Deneuve, Mia Farrow, as well as Claire Bloom (Rod Steiger’s wife) and her girl friends. She dressed Twiggy, Faye Dunaway, Julie Christie, and, bless her, Sharon Tate, one of the most perfect women, as Maxine (and I) will tell you. Maxine was dressing both men and women in the best ready-to-wear fashion from Paris and Hampstead—Dudley Moore, The Stones, the Gabor sisters, Raquel Welch, Marlo Thomas, and Jerry Lewis for his movie Don’t Raise the Bridge Lower the River.
Pop stars Dusty Springfield, Lulu, Sandy Shaw, and Cilla Black were also coming to her as was the Duchess of Kent. The designer labels she featured were Karl Lagerfeld for Chloe, Pierre Dal'by, Sonya Rykiel for Laura Boutique, Paco Rabanne, Fakiel, Daniel Hechter, V de V—the best ski wear and evening dresses in London. Her clothes where featured in magazines from Vogue and Harper's Bazaar to Nova and in newspapers.
With Maxine’s dressing the top models, and movie and pop stars, I had the wonderful job of styling their hair. They bought an outfit or two and then came down into the salon to get their hair blown out after trying on clothes. What more can one wish for in a normal working day? We were the most sought-after married couple in the fashion and beauty industry. We were invited to the best parties and most of the first nights that where worth going to. Life was smashing, and all that you read about "London and the Swinging Sixties" was truly true.
Of course, all this publicity did not happen on its own. We had found the most perfect PR agent, Caroline Neville, who became our personal press officer. She was and is, to this day, one of the best PRs in the U.K. There was never a day that went by that we did not hear from her, telling us of a new story that was being written about Maxine or a photograph that was going to be in the current Vogue or another major magazine.
Ours was one of the first hairdressing salons to have a boutique with it. And as my career progressed, I was named "a session hairdresser." I was doing so many photographic shoots that I was never really in the salon doing clients. Every day there was some magic happening. Yes we had tough times, but that's for another feature and another time.
One day, two American businessmen came to the salon and asked to meet me. They explained they were agents for a Milton Barrie from New York, the brother of George Barrie who owned Faberge. They asked if I could fly out to meet him to discuss my inventions and their marketing. You read about these stories but never think it could happen to you!
I’ve always been a highly creative person; I come up with new ideas for hairstyles and at the same time I think of new tools to use in creating them. My first invention, “The Swim Wig,” was followed by the very first round, spiky blow-styling brush "The Leighton Radial Blow Stylar." Designed and created for blow-drying (marketed by The London Rubber Company), it would still be a great tool for 2010.
From Salon Owner to International Consultant
Around 1967 I sold the Hampstead salon as I was head-hunted by Dorothy Gray, the cosmetic house, and spent 18 months in their salon, designed by Maxine, in Conduit Street before I was again head-hunted by Seligman & Latz to join Harrods as creative consultant to the largest salon group in the world. I started around 1969 and eventually left in 1986.
When I was attending clients in the Harrods beauty salon, there were so many famous people: Mrs. Heinz-57, Mrs. Tyrone Power, Mrs. Eisenhower, Joan Collins, the same models and actresses Maxine was dressing, Glenda Jackson, the magazine beauty editors; it was really nonstop. Then Vogue would phone for me to do another shoot, or Revlon was doing a new commercial. If I was not in the salon, I might have been in Europe doing hair shows for L'Oreal, Wella, Schwartzkopf or my brush company, on location with David Bailey, Barry Lategan, Cecil Beaton, or else opening salons in Europe.
One time Maxine needed to fly to Los Angeles to take a suitcase full of dresses to Marlo Thomas, one of the biggest actresses of the day. Marlo told Maxine on the phone, "I have some very special party tickets. I am taking you and Harold."
We arrived a few days later at the home of Marlo's father, Danny Thomas—he was a big, big movie star—to have drinks with Danny and family, Marlo, and her boy friend. We then found out that we were all going to the home of one of Hollywood's most famous film stars, who was giving a party for Lauren Bacall. His name: Rock Hudson.
A short list of whom we met that night: Judy Garland, Lucile Ball and Dezi Arnez, Debbie Reynolds, Anne Margaret, Mamie Van Doren, the Gabor sisters, Rex Harrison, Jill St. John, George Peppard, Lauren Bacall, the young Kennedy with his very stylish wife, and around 50 other names just as big. What a dream!
I left Harrods to open, with Maxine, the European division of John Paul Mitchell Systems. Paul and John Paul wanted us to kick-start the European operation and do something that was special for the U.K. We had 10 wonderful years together working with this American company, which prepared us for life in the USA, where we now live, in Boca Raton, Florida.
These were some of the most exciting years as Hairdresser-Session Hairdresser-Photographer-Author. I still think back on the work, fun, and living we did.
That's bringing you from the past to "The Now in 2009." Still never a dull moment, and with my darling Maxine we enjoy our new life here in Florida with this magnificent climate and good friends. But we're always missing our family who still live in London, and look forward to seeing our grandchildren when they come visit us.
We are settled in Boca Raton and my working day is as the Creative Director for a great American company and hottest product line "Keratin Complex Smoothing Therapy by Coppola," opening new channels and new doors in the industry. I’ve done feature writing for the past two years with Atlantic Avenue magazine, and now I’m working with the Australian publication Culture Magazine writing new features on the most notable names in our industry from Vidal Sassoon to Sally Herschberger.
It’s hard to relate that so many icons who have made millions of dollars from building great reputations have connected with my life being a hairdresser. This should give the young blood in our industry something to work on and to expand their minds! And I feel that the hair and beauty industry can only get better as technology gets richer.
