Vidal Sassoon: The Movie by Caroline Cox

Stepping out in one of LFE's finest frocks, I had a fabulous night last night at the British premiere of Vidal Sassoon: The Movie at the Westfield Centre in London - the first documentary to showcase the pioneering work of the world's best known hairdresser.

Vidal made an appearance alongside Kate Moss' stylist James Brown plus Nicky Clarke, Trevor Sorbie and other assorted hair celebs. The movie by ex-head of Bumble and Bumble Michael Gordon celebrated Vidal's life and the cutting edge hair designs he developed in the 1960s including the 5 point cut, the Nancy Kwan A line bob and Mary Quant's signature bob that she still wears today (she has it cut at Sassoon's Sloane Square salon). We saw that Sassoon made hair swing like the sixties itself - he was one of the first hairdresser's to treat hair as hair, as organic material rather than stuff that had to be rigidly set and hair-sprayed into a heavy helmet. Geometry and precision were his watchwords matching the Chelsea girl look that was being bought in the boutiques of London and seen on Carnaby Street. Hair was revolutionised and women were liberated from the twice weekly visit to the salon for a shampoo and set.

Most disconcertingly for me, I had a key role in the movie talking about Vidal's importance in hair and fashion and found it most off-putting to see my face projected onto the huge screen. I found myself burying my head into the shoulder of my good friend Jos Gibson, Principal of Sassoon in Knightsbridge and a fantastic barbering talent. One mustn't think that Sassoon is only sixties though - I work alongside International Creative Director Mark Hayes helping develop ideas for their ground-breaking hair collections and the company, under his direction, is as dynamic and exciting as ever. Check out the new Sassoon collection Tribe 1 (below) and if you love hair and its history I have written two books on the subject Good Hair Days: A History of British Hairstyling (Quartet Books) and Hair and Fashion (V&A).