Entering the discreet Georgian townhouse of John Frieda’s Mayfair salon is like entering a great theatrical production. The W1 wives and magazine editors having their hair done seem like part of a show, all attended to by a big backstage crew of staff. There is always something to see here: an actor having her colour changed for a role, a model undergoing a career-changing chop.
This year, Frieda celebrates 50 years in business. The London-born hairstylist opened his first salon, Stafford & Frieda, on New Cavendish Street in 1976. An eponymous salon in Mayfair followed in 1984 and, later, another in New York. In 1989 he co-founded his wildly successful John Frieda Professional Hair Care line with the US haircare executive Gail Federici. They sold it in 2002, for £450mn, having created the trailblazing formulas Frizz Ease and Sheer Blonde that are still bestsellers to this day.
The Mayfair salon exterior © Jonathan Prime
The salon reception © Jonathan Prime
The Mayfair salon remains the heart of the operation. A 2,500sq m two-level space, originally designed by India Mahdavi, it’s a gleaming temple of understated luxury furnished in grey and white Bianco Italian marble. Pops of colour come via coffee tables made from mixed plastic waste in terrazzo-like patterns by Dirk van der Kooij. Each month a different stylist curates their own selection of books, art or small sculptures that line the shelves of the reception area and, every Monday morning, salon manager Dany Lebeau and senior stylist Kiki Kho go to New Covent Garden Flower Market. “We bring the flowers back, fight like cats and dogs about their creative direction and then arrange them on the reception desk in organic ceramic vases made by Kiki,” says Lebeau.
