New digs fit Sassoon’s style

Fans of the South Coast Plaza Vidal Sassoon don’t have to look too far to find the relocated high-end salon. The hair care center named after the famed English stylist moved a few stores down into a larger space, allowing more cuts and coloring for its cadre of clients.

The new location, the 12th in the nation, had its official grand-opening party this month with hors d’oeuvres and champagne while its ultra-hip staff chatted with dapper founder Vidal Sassoon, flown in from Britain to attend the opening.

The new location near the Macy’s men’s store opened in March after several years at a nearby location.

Two large frosted glass doors welcome customers into the bright salon, surrounded by oversized mirrors and separate areas for styling and coloring.

“We really feel like this new location represents Vidal Sassoon,” said manager Brigitte Love while sitting under a giant photograph of a dark-haired model sporting a multidimensional coloring from Vidal Sassoon’s latest collection.

Twice a year, the company’s international creative director Mark Haze creates Vidal Sassoon’s seasonal hair collection, a catalog of styles and colorings considered in vogue for the next six months. Haze dispatches a team of instructors to visit the chain’s salons and the company’s academy in Santa Monica, where they teach Vidal Sassoon stylists techniques for mastering this year’s cuts.

The collection includes the uber-vogue and super model styles, but stylists aren’t expected to adorn their suburbanized clients with the forward-thinking hair styles.

“The collections are really meant to inspire the artistic creativity of the staff,” said senior colorist Adriana Harrison, who regularly attends classes and workshops at the Vidal Sassoon Academy. Instead, stylists are encouraged to incorporate the collections in manageable cuts for their clientele.

“Just by having the ongoing education, the stylist can do a variety of collections and salon-friendly cuts,” Harrison said, adding that over time, the collections become part of a stylist’s ongoing repertoire.

The collections also inspire the clientele, Love said. Huge portraits of models sporting the new collection adorn the interior of the salon, and flat screen televisions beam Vidal Sassoon’s video catalog to waiting clients. Often the images inspire clients to try new styles or different approaches to their hair.

“It’s also a way to ensure consistency,” Love said. “Clients know they can go to any Vidal Sassoon in the country and get a haircut from our program that carries throughout all our salons.”

Currently the 16 stylists and 15-person support and coloring staff at Vidal Sassoon use a small selection of hair care products including Wella SP coloring, Davines, Kerastase, Bumble and Bumble, and Nioxin.

Unlike other salons, Vidal Sassoon has separate color and styling areas. Color experts focus solely on coloring and highlights, and stylists do trims and cuts.

“It’s better to have people that are most experienced in their own areas,” the salon’s creative director Anne-Marie Groome said.

Love said Vidal Sassoon is very careful where it opens salons; South Coast Plaza seemed a natural fit because of its high concentration of exclusive boutiques and clothing stores. This setting inspires many stylists to match hair styles with new trends in fashion and accessories.

“It creates a fusion that inspires the artistic creativity in all our stylists,” Love said. dpt.15-bizspot-CPhotoInfoIP1QUV6220060515iz6dohncDON LEACH / DAILY PILOT(LA)Stylist Thierry Bonin puts the finishing touches on a client at Vidal Sassoon. The company’s new space in South Coast Plaza is a few steps from its previous spot.