John Frieda, the London hairstylist who created the Purdey cut and built a global hair-care brand, has died aged 75, his salon said.
A post on the salon's Instagram account on Tuesday announced the death, saying he had died peacefully with his family around him.
It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that our dear John passed away peacefully ….surrounded by his family
The loss lands close to home for British hairdressing. The salon he opened in central London in 1976 has traded under his name for five decades and trained the stylists who now run it.
He was born Alan Howard Frieda, but accounts of his life diverge on where: one gives his birthplace as London in 1951, the other as Kenton, Middlesex.
Hairdressing was the family trade. His father ran a salon in Ealing, west London, and his grandfather had worked as a barber on Fleet Street.
At the House of Leonard in London, Frieda learned the craft and became assistant to Leonard Lewis. Another stylist there already answered to Alan, so he became John.
For Joanna Lumley’s role in The New Avengers, he gave her a Purdey cut in 1976.
His own salon in central London opened the same year, when he was 25.
Among the clients in his chairs were Twiggy, Jackie Kennedy and Mick Jagger. He also worked with Diana, Princess of Wales, Madonna, Nicole Kidman and Scarlett Johansson.
Magazine work came too, for British Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. Branches of the salon followed in Barbados, Ibiza and Los Angeles.
From the cutting chair to the bathroom shelf
A serum he launched in 1988, Frizz-Ease carried his name out of the salon and onto the bathroom shelf. The Sheer Blonde line arrived in 1998.
During the 1980s, he partnered with American hair-care executive Gail Federici, developing his own product line. By the 1990s, he'd stopped cutting hair to focus on the brand.
In 2002, the Japanese conglomerate Kao bought the company for $450m, or £334m. One account names Federici as a seller alongside him; another describes the sale as his alone.
He held on to five salons across London, New York and Los Angeles.
Marriage to Lulu, and a later life with Avery Agnelli
He married the singer Lulu in 1977, and they had a son, Jordan. One account dates the marriage from 1977 to 1990, while the other gives the wedding year and links its end to his move to the United States.
That move came in 1990, when he went to the United States to focus on the growing hair-care brand.
In 2002, he met Avery Agnelli, the widow of the Fiat heir Giovanni Agnelli; they married in 2019. The couple had two children, Jackson and Leyla, and he was stepfather to her daughter, Asia Agnelli Lagrange.
Today we lost the best man to ever exist.
She said she shared the news because he'd touched so many lives.
Tributes from the trade
Cetera Lamb, creative director at his London salon, spoke for the staff who had worked with him.
The industry has lost a true legend, a real maverick in hairdressing. For 50 years, he led our wonderful salon, leaving behind an incredible legacy of passion, creativity, vision and outstanding hairdressing.
We will continue in his honour, celebrating his achievements and keeping his memory, values, vision and love for great hairdressing alive. His legacy will live on through us, and we will make sure of that.
His staff said in the salon's own statement that he had been more than a mentor to them, teaching them everything and making them better.
Jo Wood, the model and television personality, remembered him from the other side of the chair, when she was 16 and he was an assistant at Leonard's.
Oh No… that's so sad. When I was 16 and John worked as an assistant at Leonards, he would do my hair. He was so great… we would go to the pub after… but I couldn't drink. RIP John it was lovely to know you.
Love and condolences came from the British Beauty Council, the UK trade body.
In June, the council interviewed him about what British hairdressers should pass to the next generation. A stylist with a client in front of them should think about the action, he told the council, rather than the money or what they get from cutting the hair.
The reward is giving her the best haircut she's ever had. That is your reward.
- 1951Born Alan Howard Frieda
One account gives London as his birthplace, another Kenton, Middlesex.
- 1976The Purdey cut
He created the bowl cut for Joanna Lumley in The New Avengers.
- 1976Salon opens
He opened his own salon in central London, aged 25.
- 1977Marries Lulu
The couple had a son, Jordan.
- 1988Frizz-Ease
The serum put a stylist's name on bathroom shelves.
- 1990Moves to the US
He went to focus on the brand; one account links the move to the end of his marriage.
- 1998Sheer Blonde
A second product line followed.
- 2002Kao buys the company
The deal was worth $450m (£334m).
- 2019Marries Avery Agnelli
The couple had met in 2002.
- TuesdayDeath announced
His salon posted the news on Instagram.
What we know
- John Frieda's salon announced his death on Instagram on Tuesday.
- He was 75.
- He created Frizz-Ease in 1988 and the Sheer Blonde line in 1998.
- He opened his own salon in central London in 1976, aged 25.
Still unclear
- The cause of his death.
- The date and place of his death.
- Funeral and memorial arrangements.
The cause of his death has not been made public.
