A veritable who’s who in British hair styling is represented in this archive which contains thousands of photographic images of industry icons ranging from the legendary inventor of the bob haircut, Vidal Sassoon, to punk stylist Simon Forbes, the inventor of Monofibre hair extensions. The material mirrors the photographs that appear in Harold Leighton’s book From Salon to Celebrity, The British Hair Dressing Story (London: Seven Publications, 2004).

Leighton (b.1932), an icon in the hair styling industry, received copyright credit for the photographs in the book, an inscribed copy of which is included with this archive. The book also contains profiles of the British hairdressing icons featured, including Leighton’s recollection of working with each of them. His business card and address label appear throughout the archive, which includes thousands of 35 mm negatives, hundreds of contact print sheets, and several hundred photographic prints. The images are shot and printed in both color and black-and-white. Although the images are not dated, it appears they were taken between the late 1970s and late ‘90s. Approximately half of the material in this archive is identified. Some of the images are labeled as having been photographed by Leighton, who worked as a professional photographer but is best known for styling some of Britain’s top models and Hollywood stars. He entered the industry in 1947 at his uncle’s salon on Portobello Road and worked side-by-side during his formative years at Romaines and other top London salons with Vidal Sassoon, Leslie Green, and Trevor Sorbie. He lives in Boca Raton and continues to work as a beauty consultant.

A handful of vintage photographs are included in the collection, including a small black-and-white snapshot of a row of hair dryers, which is labeled on the verso “Romain’s drying bay 1950 as written in the VS book.” Another unique photographic print in this collection is an undated, vintage 8” x 10” portrait of Leighton with a model, stamped on the verso Barry Lategan, the photographer who discovered supermodel Twiggy.

The archive includes:

PHOTOGRAPHS

A group of vintage photographs, including eight Polaroids from a model shoot, older images of Leighton at a Time Magazine party, and a black-and-white snapshot of a row of hair dryers, on the verso is written “Romain’s drying bay 1950 as written in the VS book”

Six 5” x 7” color photographs with a John Paul Mitchell Systems UK label on the verso and handwritten captions of the images, which include the greenhouse for the Paul Mitchell farm in Hawaii, his solar car, and a solar tractor

Various photographs: 36 color and black-and-white photographs measuring 3” x 5” to 5” x 7” of various people, including several images of Leighton cutting hair. None of the images are identified. Another 12 images of similar size have captions on the verso, including a black-and-white image from The Advertiser in Croydon of Vidal Sassoon judging a hair contest.

21 photographs in black-and-white and color with no identification of various people. All the images are 8” x 10” or larger.

23 photographs in black-and-white and color, all are 8” x 10” or larger and have captions written or typed on the verso, including a color image of celebrity English hairdresser Lee Stafford and his wife Jessica Jane-Clement, and a sepia tone portrait of Joshua Galvin (1938-2011), one of Vidal Sassoon’s top London stylists who was Judy Garland’s personal hairdresser in New York

Five envelopes for Costco imaging services containing prints of a photo shoot with businessman/hairdresser Stephen Way with his wife Gloria Hunniford, a British television presenter, as well as groups of images of other unidentified people

NEGATIVES

Approximately 145 strips of black-and-white film, representing more than 700 images, that are not identified, photographer unknown

Approximately 120 strips of black-and-white film, representing more than 600 images, that are not identified, photographer unknown

Approximately 75 strips of black-and-white and color film, representing more than 375 images, with the subjects identified in marker on the front, including highly regarded hair stylists such as Antoinette Beenders, senior vice president of global professional artistry at Aveda, and long hair expert Patrick Cameron

CONTACT SHEETS

Five contact sheets in color with the subject matter identified, including images of Vidal Sassoon

Fourteen contact sheets in color with no identification

Twenty four contact sheets in black-and-white with no identification

Twenty three contact sheets in black-and-white with identification, including a series of images of Michael Gordon, considered a rebel in the hair world and the founder of Bumble and Bumble

Three color contact sheets with negatives attached with no identification

CONTACT SHEETS WITH NEGATIVES

Ten color contact sheets with negatives attached with identification, including celebrity British stylist Daniel Galvin, an expert colorist who gave Twiggy the blond hair that launched her career and served as Princess Diana’s colorist for the last ten years of her life

Ten black-and-white contact sheets with negatives attached with identification, including Tim Hartley, former international creative director at Vidal Sassoon

Six black-and-white contact sheet with negatives attached with no identification

SEPARATE FOLDERS WITH CONTACT SHEETS

There are also 16 separate folders with negatives, contacts sheets, and photographs of a variety of top British stylists, including the following:

Adele Phelan – 2000 winner of the British Men's Hairdresser of the Year award, who also won the image of the year award 2002, following David Beckham's mohawk in the GQ shoot prior to the World Cup

Anthony Mascolla – three-time winner of the British Men’s Hairdresser of the Year award and international creative director of the hair care line TIGI

Guido Palau – a hair stylist for photographic shoots and fashion shows, who styled George Michael's Freedom! music video (1990), which featured supermodels Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Tatjana Patitz, and Cindy Crawford

Simon Forbes (1950–2020) – a premier stylist amidst Britain’s punk revolution, he added acrylic hair to clients who wanted bobtails, ragtails, spikes, or dreadlocks to go along with black clothes and safety pins attached noses and earlobes

Additional folders include the following: Joshua Galvin, Anestis Cobella, Martyn Maxey and Michael Lauder, Arrol Douglas, Xavier Wenger, Trevor Sorrie, Irvine Rusk, Tim Hartley and Annie Humphries, Andrew Jose, Lee Stafford, John Santili, and Neville Tucker.

The archive also includes a variety of a miscellaneous items, including a sheet of slides of women’s hairstyles, Leighton business card, a newspaper clipping about Leighton from 1972, a half dozen negatives and transparencies of unidentified people, six CDs with Sharpie pen writing noting they are selected photos related to Vidal Sassoon, and a folder with five sheets of 8 ½” x 11” paper with handwritten notes, including a draft letter and biographies of various stylists.

The materials in the collection are in very good or better condition and housed in negative holders and archival acetate sleeves within one file box. A time capsule of icons of the British hair stylist industry. Item #73932

Price: $3,000.00