How Vidal Sassoon transformed Yorkville
The arrival of fashion icon changed the Toronto scene from hippie to haute 50 years ago
The arrival of Vidal Sassoon in Toronto in October 1968 marked a changing of the guard in Yorkville. It was the catalyst in the transition of the hippie coffee house scene and the rundown rooming houses that has resulted in the high-end luxury fashion destination the area is today. It all began with a shot of adrenalin, a new wave of crisp, modern fashion imported from Swinging London.
Sassoon, who died in 2012 at age 84, was the first celebrity hairstylist. He gave London miniskirt designer Mary Quant the precision-cut bob that articulated the mod revolution of the 1960s. And in so doing, he liberated women from the laboriously backcombed and teased beehives of the previous era in favour of wash-and-go styles.
A showman of rare charisma and an early marketing genius, Sassoon then took his scissors to Hollywood and gained great acclaim for his famous pixie cut on Mia Farrow for Rosemary’s Baby.
Sassoon’s stamp of approval gave the city “international validation” both within and without, according to Ian Wookey, whose father Richard Wookey brought the brand to town in partnership with his friend Vidal, whom he knew from the London social scene. Wookey says, in today’s vernacular, “they partied together.”
The Toronto Sassoon Salon will mark its place in our city’s history with a 50th anniversary party on Oct. 17 at the Scollard St. location, where it moved three years ago from its original outpost at the corner of Avenue Rd. and Yorkville Ave.
“It is now right in the heartland of the Village,” says Wookey, who is CEO and president of the family real estate development and property management company, Seniority Investments.
“My father had the courage to invest in what was then not even an up-and-coming area, it was a class D slum. He said to Vidal, ‘I have this incredible building right in youth centre, right in the centre of Toronto,’” says Wookey.
“The deal was he would build Vidal an incredible salon, and Vidal would bring the talent and the staff. We provided accounting and management,” he explains. “A sustainable model, where the talent came once, but then taught the techniques to assistants, who would
eventually become stylists.
They also provided company for the London import. In 1976, the Seniority project Hazelton Lanes opened, featuring brands new to Toronto such as Hermes, Courreges and the international designer boutique, Chez Catherine.
“We built condos on top of the stores,” says Wookey, “a new concept at the time. You couldn’t give them away, no one had the vision or understanding. Fast forward 40 years and this is now the hottest real estate market in Canada.” Indeed, a further 10,000 condo units in the neighbourhood are due to be completed in the area in the near future.
Richard Wookey, the real estate developer often referred to as “the Squire of Yorkville,” a nod to his role in transforming the neighbourhood, died in 2014, but the family partnership with the salon also survived Vidal’s sale of the company and continues to this day.
The remarkable lasting power of the Sassoon brand, which launched on Bond St. in London in 1954, is in the precision cutting techniques, says Wesley Hanlon, the creative director in Canada. The Torontonian came back home 12 years ago, from the Sassoon Salon in Glasgow. “It is about shape and balance.”
The internal training system is known as the most intense in the business and can last several years. But Sassoon also offers shorter courses for hairstylists, and Toronto has its own Sassoon Academy.
“Sassoon is also the only salon that produces seasonal hair collections, showing directional cut and colour trends,” says Hanlon. The collections are at the fashion forefront, he says, emphasizing that the rather strict geometric precision cuts that often come to mind with Sassoon are not all that is on the menu.
“Our hair looks reflect the times. Yes, we still do some of the iconic cuts, but they are variations, suited to the times now and the individual. And if the fashion is soft, then we do soft, just with some shape to it.”
The archival shots of that opening Toronto party show off some of those iconic cuts. Ian Wookey remembers that night vividly, which he attended as a 13-year-old. See, Vidal had already been cutting his hair in London, where he was at boarding school nearby, and where his father had a flat. “Ringo Starr’s old apartment in Knightsbridge, where (Beatles manager Brian) Epstein had a place and the Beatles Rolls-Royce’s were in the basement.”
That youthquake excitement arrived in Toronto with the salon, he says, “Vidal was here for the party that night, when he spoke with that English accent that makes everyone sound way more serious than an American, he was soft-spoken but a commanding presence.”
Toronto’s fine old families duly showed up on the salon’s doorstep. Original customers included the Thomson family, and later-Glitter Girl Janice O’Borne. Belinda Stronach was once a customer, in years thereafter. And today’s crop of influencers who are dedicated to the salon include television personality Tanya Kim, lifestyle bloggers Casie Stewart, Elise Purdon and Julio Reyes.
John Beeson has watched much of the change in Yorkville’s fashion and hair scene: he has been in Toronto for the last 34 years of his 41 years in total with Sassoon. Now colour director, he has served more than one generation of some loyal Toronto clientele. He has also coloured some very cool celebs, from the late Dolores O’Riordan of the Cranberries to Alanis Morissette, plus Ozzy Osbourne and Marc Almond from Soft Cell.
“Colour is an extension of the haircut,” Beeson says, in the Sassoon philosophy, it “enhances the lines and the shape of the haircut, and adds dimension.”
Current client Jen Kirsch is a wellknown dating and relationship writer who finds herself out on the town for work multiple times per week. Thus hair maintenance is a serious concern for her. Kirsch tells the story of what drew her to the Sassoon Salon.
At a party a year ago at the palatial home of Real Housewife and busi- nesswoman Ann Kaplan (two doors down from where Drake is building), Wesley Hanlon was doing Kaplan’s hair for the prep-themed party, which featured hair and makeup services and even Botox and fillers. Kirsch arrived and made a beeline for her hostess to offer greetings and thanks, and Hanlon struck up a conversation, calling out her manners, so often sadly lacking these days.
“We hit it off and were both engaged and passionate in our convo,” she says. “It’s that engagement that drew me to take him up on his offer to come by the salon.” Now, Kirsch could take offers for discounted hair care elsewhere (in return for Instagram shout outs), but she says those experiences always left her feeling like the discount meant she couldn’t ask for what she wanted.
“I’m happy to invest in Sassoon. Yes, sometimes it feels like there is a reputation that clients are a bit older,” says Kirsch, who is in her 30s now. But what she loves about Sassoon is “it is easy, there is no hidden agenda. And the lack of gossip culture was a huge win for me.’”
Plus, she is not getting the exact same blonde as every other “girl about town” at social scene events. The hair change came after a romantic breakup for Kirsch, who now sees Sassoon as hair empowerment. “I feel refreshed, pulled together, and a little more grown up” after a visit.
And hanging out in the salon, she says, feels a bit like hanging at SoHo House. I go in with my laptop to work, grab my green tea and have some great conversations, but with good boundaries. Because they aren’t my quote-unquote friends, they will walk me off the edge if I suggest something crazy.”
“It is elegant and timeless and when I leave I am positive. They are not catty, which is very rare, I’ve never found a salon that is so drama free.”
Perhaps that is the real secret to longevity: professionalism in the work and the attitude. As Ian Wookey says, “A lot of things in this town have come and gone. But Sassoon is still here.”
MORE ONLINE: For more archival photos from this story and others, go to facebook.com/TorontoStar Archives
Yes, we still do some of the iconic cuts, but they are variations, suited to the times now and the individual. WESLEY HANLON SASSOON CANADA CREATIVE DIRECTOR