Can You Do My Hair Like This?

Posted on February 22, 2017 by ian

Michael Fabricant Conservative MP for Lichfield wrote on Huffington Post: A Message To The Luvvies – If You Can’t Say Anything Constructive, Don’t Say Anything At All – @Mike_Fabricant

“Can you do my hair like this,” really is the classic client request! It’s one of those heartfelt, emotional pleas that goes something like this, “I want my hair to look totally natural, like Jennifer Aniston’s,” and there it is, that name, ‘Jennifer Aniston’, probably my most requested hairstyle! Over the years there have been many others, Jane Fonda, Joanna ‘Purdy’ Lumly and Farrah Fawcett have got to be up there with the most requested, as have Mary Quant’s French Bob and Mia Farrow’s urchin style cut.

My first ‘can you do my hair like this’ request, was in 1974 when I worked for Ricci Burns, for a Mia Farrow, who played Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby. My saddest was in 1978, when a gaunt, mousy looking woman brandished a cut-out of Farrah Fawcett-Majors and said, “My husband wants me to look like this.”

Most hairdressers love pictures of celebrity hairstyles, they’re great conversation starters. I love them. However, all photographs need interpreting and putting into context: who’s the person. why was the photograph taken. what are they selling. is it their normal, everyday hair. has the image been altered, enhanced? And when I’m presented with a celebrity’s picture, my aim is to translate it into a style for my client.

Over the last ten years, or so, we’ve seen the rise of social media, which has had a profound impact on television, mainstream journalism, the celebrities themselves, and of course the general public. The image of the self (the selfie) – user-generated photos – take on a new meaning and importance – everyone and anyone can suddenly become a celebrity!

I find myself questioning celebrity culture; I wonder why so many celebrities feel they have the qualifications to tell us how to live our lives and what to think? Is it because they have transcended their own selfishness and become ‘global’ brands? (They’ve disappeared up their own arses and come out the other side, like a gurner in a horse collar.) Or is it because we all love a liberal nonconformist, an anti-establishment provocateur, a court jester on a short leash?

I feel that there’s a dichotomy between how celebrities like: Lily Allen, Russell Brand, Charlotte Church, Bob Geldof, Eddie Izzard (to name the bloody obvious, but there are many more), live their lives and how they expect us to (and how we are able to) live ours.

BTW, I’ve never been asked for a Michael Fabricant ;)

Halide Edip Adivar & The Summer Cottage

Posted on June 22, 2016 by ian

My wife went to Halide Edip Adivar High School in Üskudar, so when I read Irmak Yenisehirlioglu’s tweet, I was very intrigued (BTW @Irmak_Ye is no longer on Twitter):

“In 1925, as Halide Edip Adivar (1884-1964) was writing her memoirs on a farm in England; not far away, Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) was working on ‘To the Lighthouse’. Halide wrote directly in English and Virginia was intimate with Vita Sackville-West.” paraphrase quote @Irmak_Ye 19 Jun 2016.

Halide Edip Adivar (1884-1964) was a Turkish novelist, educational and social reformer, nationalist, and political leader for women’s rights. Best known for her novels criticizing the low social status of Turkish women and what she saw as the lack of interest of most women in changing their situation.

On what farm did Edip write her memoirs in 1925?

My journey to answer the question, “on what farm did Edip write her memoirs in 1925,” starts with Halide Edip Adivar’s book: ‘Memoirs of Halide Edib’ With a frontispiece in color by Alexandre Pankoff and many illustrations from photographs. Published: 4 April 1927? (exact publication date unknown) by The Century Co., New York & London.^[1]

It was when I was skip reading Halide Edip’s memoirs that I realised I had opened up a can of worms of names and dates. But the first significant name to spring out at me was Miss Isabel Fry.

Isabel Fry (1869-1958)^[2] was an educationalist, social worker and reformer. Born into a famous reforming Quaker family, she was one of nine children. She taught at Roedean (1891-95) with Constance de la Cherois Crommelin (later Mrs John Masefield (important)). In 1895-ish she moved to London with Constance Crommelin, and eventually founded a school in Marylebone Road.

In 1908/1909 Halide Edip Adivar stayed with Isabel in Marylebone Road, London. And subsequently, Isabel visited Turkey for the first time herself in 1908/1909, and stayed with Halide Edip for three weeks.

For me, the whole story of Halide Edip in England revolves around her enduring friendship with Isabel Fry. My God, how the rich and famous flit around the world – even in the early 1900s!

This is the house that I believe is Rectory Farm, Great Hampden

In 1909 Isabel Fry bought Rectory Farm, Great Hampden, Buckinghamshire as a ‘summer cottage’ with her friends the poet and novelist John Masefield and his wife Constance. “It’s a lovely little farm in Buckinghamshire, high up on a chalk hill surrounded by beech woods and common land, a very fresh, pretty, but rather bare and cold country like most chalk hills. Said Masefield in 1909.” Forever England: The Life of Rupert Brooke By Mike Read^[3]

John Masefield wrote ‘Gallipoli’ 1916.

Rectory Farm is the farm where Masefield read to Halide Edip: “One is a scene of Mr. Masefield’s ‘Pompeii,’ which he read to me in Miss Fry’s farm-house at Hampden. It was not published then, and I have not read it since, but it impressed me as most forceful.” Memoirs of Halide Edib 1909

Clearly Halide Edip was strongly influenced by her visit to England in 1909. She had met Edward Granville Browne (1862-1926)^[4], Henry Woodd Nevinson (1856-1941)^[5], obviously John Edward Masefield (1878-1967)^[6] and I would have thought Isabel Fry’s brother Roger Eliot Fry (1866-1934)^[7], who was a member of the Bloomsbury Group^[8], to which Virginia Woolf^[9] belonged.

Just to say, Roger Fry lived just down the road from Isabel’s home on Marylebone Road at 33 Fitzroy Square, Fitzrovia, London W1T 6EU.

In June 1912 Halide Edip visited Isabel Fry again. Halide took a flat in Cambridge Terrace, Regents Park, London. Here she wrote ‘New Turan’ (Yeni Turan – 1912). And Isabel started to take deprived children to Rectory Farm, for holidays and teaching.

Cambridge Terrace a row of terraced mansions overlooking Regent’s Park, London Borough of Camden, London, England.

In 1914 Isabel Fry paid her second (and last) visit to Turkey, she sayed for one month. And John & Constance Masefield gave up Rectory Farm and moved to Lollingdon Farm in Berkshire.

In 1917 Isabel Fry founded The Farmhouse School, Mayortorne Manor, Wendover, Buckinghamshire. It was an experimental school in which training in farm and household duties were emphasised – She left in 1930.

In 1926 Halide Edib ‘and associates’ were accused of treason in Turkey! She and her husband escaped to Europe. They lived in Paris, London, the United States, and India from 1926 to 1939 when they returned to Turkey.

Were the ‘Memoirs of Halide Edib’ (1926/1927) written here at The Farmhouse School, Mayortorne Manor, Wendover, Buckinghamshire or at Rectory Farm, Great Hampden? Image: courtesy Paul Buck via: Chiltern Way 8: Saunderton to Cow Roast

Halide Edib’s ‘The Turkish ordeal: Being the further memoirs of Halide Edib’ published: The Century Co., New York & London 1928.

Halide Edib is the first Turkish author to publish a novel written firstly in English: The Clown and His Daughter (Sinekli Bakkal) published: Allen & Unwin, 1935 London.

Halide Edip Adivar returned to Turkey (1939), and became professor of English literature at the Faculty of Letters in Istanbul University. In 1950, she was elected to Parliament, resigning in 1954.

It is my view that Halide Edip (and maybe her husband Adnan Adivar – but I doubt it) spent time with Isabel Fry between 1926 and 1930 at The Farmhouse School in Buckinghamshire; and ask yourself this: did Isabel Fry leave Rectory Farm at the same time as the Masefields in 1914?

References

Halide Edip Adivar on Wiki

If you are out there Irmak, send me a message.

Boris Johnson wins President Erdogan Offensive Poetry competition

Posted on May 20, 2016 by ian

Boris Johnson wins The Spectator’s President Erdogan Offensive Poetry competition.

Boris Johnson and Sirs at The Spectator, that really was such a massive stitch-up, or to quote the man himself, who recently criticised David Cameron by saying, “This is a bigger stitch-up than the Bayeux Tapestry.” However, let’s be realistic, I’m sure the choice was ‘semi-political’, and anyway, I wouldn’t want to be ‘named’ and summoned to the court of the Turkish Sultan Erdogan, like poor old Jan Böhmermann and be given a turkey slap.

Anyway, I thought I’d write kindly riposte (Recep Tayyip Erdoğan the President of Turkey is unable to do this because his time is being taken up designing and building a new petting zoo in Ankara. Oh, and he has absolutely no sense of humour):

Boris Johnson

The glamorous politician Bo Johnson,
Like a Minoan he can leap over oxen,
However, his rhyme was a crime,
And he should do some time,
That glamorous politician Bo Johnson.

I wrote about five limericks for the competition, two of which I sent in to The Spectator. They’re far too rude for my website folks. Send me a Twitter message, and I’ll send them to you :-) xXx

Me Smoking Aged 2.5

Posted on January 30, 2016 by ian

This is an old and very faded Black and White photograph taken (developed and enlarged) by my father, of me smoking – No Dates!

We were having a picnic at a place we called Buffalo Creek, in Tobruk, Libya. I had fallen into the sea from a cliff and my father had dragged me out, saving my two year old life. Then he tried to kill me by giving me a Capstan full strength cigarette, while they all looked on and took happy snaps of me smoking! Yeah, I was ill afterwards – Happy days.

Oh, and BTW, I hate smoking and I’m pleased they’ve banned it in public places!

What Happened To Fashion Photographer Rod Delroy?

Posted on October 5, 2015 by ian

Photographer: Rod Delroy. Model: Kate Dowson. Hair: Ian Robson.
Fashion: Way In at Harrods. Friday 7 August 1981.
A Scanned Polaroid Photograph from my collection.

I only worked with the wonderful fashion photographer Rod Delroy about a dozen times. First time was in 1976 for The Evening Standard – funnily enough the last time was in 1981 also for an editorial in The Evening Standard.

A memorable session with Rod was a promotional shoot for Way In – Way In was an in-store fashion boutique/department at Harrods.

I suppose, if I remember correctly, the session was our attempt to pay homage to, and add some sophistication and change to the ever dwindling New Romantics fashion scene, which by August 1981 was getting past its best – Spandau Ballet meets Edgar Degas!

I’ve a strong feeling that Delightful Delroy has pegged out – if you know what has happened to the fashion photographer Rod Delroy, Please Let Me Know

Remembering John Edward Robson and the Atomic Bomb

Posted on August 6, 2015 by ian

John Edward Robson, Aircraftman 1st Class, 84 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, died 29th November 1943, aged 31

On this day when the world is remembering Hiroshima and commemorating the 70th anniversary of the first atomic bomb being dropped; I will be remembering my father’s brother (my uncle!) John Edward Robson, (Aircraftman 1st Class, 84 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve) who died on 29th November 1943, aged 31. He was the son of James Byers Robson and Lily Agnes Robson; husband of Elsie Robson, of Ambleside, Westmorland and father to Kathleen.

John Edward Robson was a Japanese POW, he died on the ‘Hell Ship’ Suez Maru:

In 1943, the Japanese decided to ship the sick back to Java. A total of 640 men, including a number of Japanese sick patients, were taken on board the 4,645-ton passenger-cargo ship Suez Maru. In two holds, 422 sick British (including 221 RAF servicemen) and 127 sick Dutch prisoners, including up to twenty stretcher cases, were accommodated. The Japanese patients filled the other two holds.

Escorted by a minesweeper W-12, the Suez Maru set sail from Port Amboina but while entering the Java Sea and about 327 kilometres east of Surabaya, Java, Netherlands East Indies, the vessel was torpedoed by the American submarine USS Bonefish commanded by Cdr. Tom Hogan. The ship started to list as water poured into the holds drowning hundreds, many managed to escape the holds and swam away from the sinking ship. The Japanese mine sweeper W-12 picked up the Japanese survivors, leaving between 200 and 250 men in the sea. At 14.50, the minesweeper, W-12, under orders from Captain Kawano, opened fire, using a machine gun and rifles. Rafts and lifeboats were then rammed and sunk by the W-12. The firing did not cease till all the prisoners were killed, the minesweeper then picked up speed and sped off towards Batavia (Jakarta) at 16.30 hours.

Sixty-nine Japanese had died during the attack, 93 Japanese soldiers and 205 Japanese sick patients were rescued by the Japanese. Of the 547 British and Dutch prisoners, there is reported to be one survivor, a British soldier, Kenneth Thomas, who was picked up twenty-four hours later by the Australian minesweeper HMAS Ballarat, this has not been confirmed. Via Suez Maru Roll of Honour

Remembering John Edward Robson who is commemorated on Column 428 of the Singapore Memorial and the Atomic Bomb, Lest We Forget

Things Your Hairdresser Really Wants You To Know

Posted on July 8, 2015 by ian

The bohemian M. Pring returning to normality. Eton 1980

The big problem for me with articles like Cosmopolitan’s 10 things your hairdresser REALLY wants you to know, is that they are usually stuffed full of hackneyed truisms like, ‘Number 3. You get what you pay for;’ and unfortunately, they don’t really come up with the goods. What does your hairdresser really want you to know?

Have a quick gander at 10 things…

First, hairdressing isn’t just about cutting and styling hair, it’s principally about communication – And The key hairdressing skill is the ability to listen; if your hairdresser is doing all the talking during the opening consultation, something is very, very wrong.

Second, hairdressing is both a personal service and a craft, I know that’s obvious, but it’s how your hairdresser combines those two that distinguishes them. For instance, you don’t want all personal service and no ability do you? Or maybe you do?

Third, your hairdresser has no favourites – I love you all equally. And that maybe is too much flannel!

Okay, now I’ll go through Cosmo’s 10 things:

1. Can you do my hair like this picture? Most hairdressers love pictures of hairstyles, they’re great conversation starters. You want a hairdresser honest enough to speak frankly and with the ability to create something suitable for you and your hair. All photographs need interpreting and put into context: who’s the person. why was the photograph taken. what are they selling. is it their normal, everyday hair. has the image been digitally remastered…? You don’t want a hairdresser who just says, “Yes” then proceeds to fuck it up!

2. I want to grow my hair: I used to say, “If you want to grow your hair it’s important to get it cut regularly to prevent it splitting.” But actually, that’s mostly bollocks – as with all things hairdressing, it very much depends on your hair. If you want to grow your hair, Don’t Get It Cut – it’ll grow faster! Do keep it in good condition though, and see your hairdresser very occasionally (4 months-ish), for style correction and a quick check through.

3. The truism, “You get what you pay for:” A salon is only as good as its worst hairdresser – one of my banalities! Looking for a new hairdresser? Recommendation is key, so chat with friends, and if you see someone with a great hairstyle, ask them where they get it cut – you’ll soon find a hairdresser or salon coming to the fore. Before making an appointment go in and have a look-see, get a free consultation with the stylist and pick up a price list – and let’s face it, if the stylist is good you’ll normally have to wait for an appointment.

4. The untruism “Salon (professional) products are better than High Street (retail) products:” Oh that that were true; it’s certainly what hairdressers desire and have been gunning for. I know it’s a cliché to say ‘economy of scale,’ but it’s the reality; big supermarkets (inc. Boots UK) have a much bigger buying power than your local independent hairdresser. There are hundreds of hair products on the market, your hairdresser, the expert, can talk you through them and recommend the right products for you. “Full of hidden chemicals,” is scaremongering. Talk with your stylist.

5. What is your hairstory? Make sure you talk with your hairdresser before you get your hair washed; this is called an opening consultation and is Very important. It doesn’t matter how well your stylist knows you, you should always receive and opening consultation. Having said that, a good hairdresser will know your recent hair history just by looking at it, and will confirm that by talking you through it. If your stylist is not listening during the opening consultation, run away quickly!

6. & 7. Condescending Hairdressers: I found numbers six and seven of ’10 things…’ (‘colouring and lightening are opposites’ and ‘you can’t lift colour with colour’), slightly patronising. Inferior hairdressers often use smoke, mirrors and bollocks to explain technical matters! Salons who use specialist colourists don’t usually have this as a problem.

My #7. Describing colour: Don’t try to describe your hair colour over the phone, it is virtually impossible. The colourist will want to see you, it’s also a good idea bring in a photograph if you want to discuss a colour.

8. Unhappy with your hair? Most hair issues are resolved at the opening consultation, but if you are not happy with your hair at any time, Tell Your Hairdresser As Soon As Possible; you Will get it sorted out – usually for free. A good hairdresser wants & likes to be informed of issues so they can improve themselves.

9. Client etiquette: Of course etiquette works both ways. So yeah, don’t be late, equally, tell your stylist if you’re on a schedule. Also, holding a mobile phone to your ear is distracting and awkward. But remember this: You are always right!

10. Love me, recommend me: Yes, the hairdressing industry does rely heavily on word of mouth recommendations. And Yes, you will normally receive a discount off your next appointment for referrals.

10 things your hairdresser REALLY wants you to know was written by Annie Davies for Cosmopolitan magazine on 3 June, 2015 @ 10:44 AM

Turkish Contemporary Artist Sukran Moral

Posted on June 14, 2015 by ian

The Artist – Şükran Moral 1994
Photograph courtesy of Sukran Moral

The Lovely Irmak Yenisehirlioglu tweeted a link to Sukran Moral’s ‘My Pain My Rebellion’ exhibition at the KODE Art Museums of Bergen (30th October 2015 – 28th March 2016) (wish I could afford to get there and see it), I followed it and I was enthralled. And I searched Google and I read and I was held captive by Sukran Moral’s art.

As a hairdresser I am interested in feminism, I’m a feminist! There is nothing odd about that, I’ve been working with and for women for many years – Those of you who know me very well, will also know that I’m a keen artist: my themes being: change, religion, feminism, misogyny and memory.

My next sculpture will be a portrait of the artist Şükran Moral (pronunciation Shukran), there will be reference to the crucifixion, FGM and how I feel about the way women are being treated by Islamic State (IS) – which in my humble opinion, reflects much of what Sukran Moral is about, I’ll do some research first ;-) x

Şükran Moral (Wiki) is a Turkish contemporary artist, she’s powerful and political, thought provoking, edgy and comes with a parental advisory warning label – I like that!

Abandoned Suitcase Reveals A Love Affair

Posted on March 31, 2015 by ian

A love affair in a suitcase! Book cover, Margret: Chronik einer Affare Mais 1969 bis Dezember 1970 – Chronicle of an Affair May 1969 to December 1970. Compiled and Published by Nicole Delmes and Susanne Zander; text by Veit Loers and Susanne Pfeffer, at Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther Koenig, 2012. ISBN: 9783863352547. Out of print.

White Columns Gallery, in collaboration with Galerie Susanne Zander | Delmes & Zander, presents this unusual and remarkable collection of photographs and ephemera that relate to a love affair which took place between the Cologne businessman Günter K., 39, and his secretary Margret S., 24, in the late 1960s and early 1970s – Is this revenge porn turned arty-farty? The exhibition runs at the White Columns until April 18^th 2015 – Also very interesting Galerie Zander Blog.

Günther K. “Margret” 7^th December 1970; Original Vintage Print 13cm x 9cm.

To be a hairdresser you’ve got to be interested in people, not just fashion; because as a hairdresser you can’t really avoid getting caught up in the revelations and the machinations of other people’s lives. In a way, hairdressers are voyeuristic; we float around our clients like a camera, intently watching and actively listening while we primp and preen and snip and style, and maybe that’s why I found the discovery of ‘Margret: Chronicle of an Affair – May 1969 to December 1970,’ so fucking compelling.

(great hair) Margret S. by Günther K. 9^th January 1970 – pages 22-23.

I originally found ‘Margret’ in the Telegraph and I was instantly mesmerised by her Dusty Springfield-esque bouffant hairstyle and the atmospheric photographs that seemed strangely, beautifully familiar.

Dated, Friday 4^th September 1970, has this hair sample been used by Margret’s hairdresser to either test a L’oreal hair colour (Récital was a very popular home hair colour that would fit the code?): 50% .12 + 50% .14 (a reddy-caramel-ish tint) + 6% H₂O₂ (20 volume peroxide) or was it to be passed on to her normal hairdresser? Just to say, all my colour formulae are my intellectual copyright – apart from Frances’s, which is, Wella Koleston Perfect: 50% 8/0 + 50% 9/0 + 20 Vol!

The photograph of the hair sample, with it’s simple formula, seems so everyday to me – I love it because of the background context it provides to the narrative! I don’t know what it says in the book (which I would LOVE to own) about Margret’s hair; but Museperk says or maybe quotes, “We also observe Günther’s apparent transformation of his secretary from a shy, simple, mousy-haired girl to a modern, sophisticated woman with a fiery red high-maintenance beehive hairdo.”

Galerie Zander says, “Somehow, the ultimate symbol of the man’s control is the absurd bouffant hairdo that the woman wears in almost all of the photos, regardless of how little else she has on. It feels to me like a giant handicap that her culture has foisted on her – a notably stylish ball-and-chain.”

A “high-maintenance ball-and-chain hairdo” was pretty much the norm in the 1960s; it wasn’t until the mid to late 1970s that time consuming sets and comb-outs started to fall out of fashion and the ubiquitous blow-dry came to the fore – Don’t pull time out of joint OUTRAGEOUS blog.

All of these wonderful photographs are courtesy of Galerie Susanne Zander | Delmes & Zander Visit Their Website, and you might want to follow White Columns Gallery on Twitter?

Rita Tushingham with Peter Finch in “Girl With Green Eyes” (1964)

The photographs of Margret and the love affair, remind me so much of Hazel who looked like Rita Tushingham in ‘Girl With Green Eyes,’ a film of the book (published 1962) written by the Irish novelist Edna O’Brien – who’s hair I used to do in the mid 1970s.

Edna O’Brien 1974. Photograph by & courtesy of Fay Godwin.

Hazel lived with her boyfriend in an arty flat overlooking Wandsworth Common. I stayed the night and went for a beer with her boyfriend and we talked about the art market – he was an interesting and good bloke. In the morning I talked to Hazel about her hair colour while I watched her put her face on in the bathroom mirror; he dropped us off outside the Chelsea fire station on the King’s Road. And she confided in me, “I’m going to ditch him,” which shocked me. And I felt as though in one boozy night, I’d experienced the beginning, middle and end of their love affair! And thus the love affair between Margret and Günther seems almost like a real memory to me.

Celebratory Snifter at The Red Lion Arlingham

Posted on September 15, 2014 by ian

Brian ‘Streaters’ Streatfield

I was having a nice pint of Uley Bitter in the The Red Lion pub in Arlingham, Gloucestershire, when my mate Streaters walked in, and without blinking, doffing his hat or a nod he orders five double whiskies. The landlord pours them, lines them up on the bar and we all look on as he knocks them back in quick succession. As soon as Streaters finishes the landlord jokingly asks, “what’s the big occasion?” And Streaters replies, “my first blow-job!” The landlord immediately offers up a congratulatory and celebratory snifter, but Streaters replies. “if five doubles didn’t get the taste out of my mouth, I doubt the sixth will!”

A Celebration of The Life of Brian. Brian ‘Streaters’ Streatfield, born 4th October 1938 – 25th July 2014. He was like an Uncle to me, he was a dear, dear friend and I loved him very much.

This series of ‘Pub Jokes’ marked Streaters is my little tribute to a man who loved a pint in a good pub; he was also the bloke that I loved to have a pint with, and I’ll miss him forever. Rest in peace you old ‘B’

SlashHair

The sex, politics, religion and philosophy of fashion, esp. of hair, by session hairdresser and stylist Ian Robson

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