Jill King - Aitch: A Life in Colour: Conversations with My Hair Stylist

Copyright 2013 Jill King

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ISBN: 9781783067602

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A itch Peters is a leading creative hair stylist who has been at the top of his professional craft for 40 years. He is also an accomplished artist.

In this book his extraordinary life is explored through a series of conversations with Jill King, one of his regular clients at the Sassoon salon in the City of London. Their conversations lively, funny and at times shocking tell Aitchs inspirational story from his humble beginnings in Dominica to a life of creativity, glamour and adventure.

Aitchs stories reveal the connections between the craft of hairdressing and the artistic spirit in all its forms from ballet to cooking.

While Aitch and Jill appear at first to have very little in common, they come to appreciate and respect the similarities in their professional experiences, and in their personal values, as their relationship develops.

About the author

Jill King has had a highly successful professional career in the City for over 30 years and was the HR director at Linklaters, a leading global law firm, from 2005 to 2012. She is a business writer and commentator on the professions.

T here are many celebrities famous enough to be referred to by just one name. One would never need to refer to Madonna by anything other than her Christian name. Utter the name Coco and one immediately knows that it is Chanel that it is being discussed; Elvis, Marilyn etc., the list goes on. Modern day pop stars such as J. Lo and Jay-Z have taken the process one step further and have abbreviated their names down to truncated initials. There is, however, only one person that I am aware of that is known simply by one letter H.

I first witnessed the talent and showmanship of Aitch when I had been at Sassoon just a few months. He won the Sassoon Inter Salon Soiree with a beautiful presentation of stunning models sashaying down the catwalk to La Vie En Rose by Grace Jones; it was totally mesmerising and totally Aitch! For months afterwards, you couldnt walk into a Sassoon salon anywhere without hearing this being played.

My next significant encounter with Aitch was when I was made his junior in Londons South Molton Street. At the time, Sassoon creative directors were impossibly flamboyant and full of exotic characters, with Aitch possibly the most flamboyant creative director of all. The juniors had been polishing and cleaning the salon in readiness for the senior team and the first clients arrival, usually at 9am. However, Aitch didnt arrive with the rest of the team and as the minutes become an hour, and his well-heeled clientele arriving, there was still no sign of Aitch. Of course, this was before mobile phones, so I just had to appease his clients as best as I could and wait

All of a sudden, there was a commotion at the desk as Aitch made his entrance, a flurry of Louis Vuitton luggage, Maxfield Parrish floor-length fur coat, YSL shoes, suit, sunglasses (whatever the weather) and a haze of Grey Flannel cologne. Sauntering over to the trio of clients (and handing me the coat and luggage without missing a step), he pronounced to each client in turn, Darling you simply must have a treatment colour perm before we start. All were instantly assuaged by his gentle, polite, charming, and ever so slightly risqu charisma, and they of course always dutifully complied. Well, Aitch knew best, didnt he?

I was lucky enough to assist Aitch whenever he was out on shoots or fashion shows, and later in my career being part of the team that accompanied him on the numerous hair shows he conducted around the world.

That was the way it was with Aitch, each day was a carnival of models, celebrities, shoots, and shows, always hectic, always exciting and always fun. Like the list above, there will only ever be one Marilyn or one Elvis; there will, as well, certainly only ever be one Aitch!

Mark Hayes

International Creative Director

Sassoon

In a word, then, learn to fascinate.

Villiers David,

Advice to my Godchildren

A -I-T-C-H. I had to ask the receptionist to spell it out for me in the end with a mixture of exasperation and disbelief at my end of the phone. Why was it that hair stylists had to have such ridiculous names? Were they born with them or did they just adopt them to make themselves sound more creative?

By now, I was used to booking appointments with stylists with names like Tamzin or Florien, but this really was the most ridiculous one Id come across. I didnt even know whether Aitch was a man or a woman, and by the time Id asked the receptionist to repeat the name three times, it seemed impertinent to ask any more questions. But I was off to Brazil that day on a four-day business trip and my hair desperately needed cutting so I took the slot that was offered, and just hoped that the experience of Aitch cutting my hair would be over quickly so that I could get on my way to the airport.

To be honest, Ive never enjoyed going to the hairdressers. Ive always been rather self-conscious about my looks, never being a pretty child, and a bit of a tomboy when I was young. I used to love riding my bicycle, building dens and climbing trees. At school I was studious, and more interested in books than fashion or make-up.

So sitting for nearly an hour in front of a mirror at the hairdressers had never been a pleasure, it felt more like a form of torture to me. I certainly didnt relish the expectation there always seemed to be that Id sit and chat breezily as my hair was being cut. Id always found these conversations rather false and predictable, however hard the stylist tried to be friendly. I didnt want to tell Tamzin or Florien about my holidays or my weekend, and I was never convinced they were really that interested; it just seemed like a ritual.

To me, going to the salon was a chore, something that needed to be done, and I just wanted my hair cut efficiently so that I could get out of there as soon as possible. But right now, I really did need a haircut. It had been nearly two months since Id last subjected myself to a visit to the hairdressers, and I knew I couldnt leave it any longer.

I had at least found a new salon that Id started to visit fairly regularly Sassoon in the City. Id picked up Vidal Sassoons autobiography once in an airport bookshop and read it on a long plane journey. I admired the way hed built a successful business empire, and I was fascinated by the way Bauhaus architecture of all things had inspired him to create the iconic Sassoon styles of the 1960s. I was impressed by the way hed invested in his staff and created a highly regarded academy where stylists were trained, not just for his own company, but for the hairdressing industry as a whole. I appreciated these werent typical reasons for choosing a salon, but the Sassoon brand somehow struck a chord, despite the hairdressing world being so alien to me.