Posted by on Mar 5, 2014 in Helen's Blog | 5 comments

Ragtails, Shaved Side Street Look with Extensions - 80s

Photo: Mike Owen

Know your hair history?  This is Ragtails, a shaved-side street look with extensions by Simon Forbes, Antenna London, who had the clients to wear this look way back then  in the 80s, before anyone else.  But now Is another matter.  Closely shaved  sides are all over the place, for both sexes.  Lupita Nyong’o, Brad Pitt, many more …

Antenna Salon, now no longer, was the first to cater to the people Simon Forbes mixed with on the London club scene, and had its roots in punk.

Forbes first became world- famous for Boy George’s colorful hair extensions. The  Monofibre extensions  by Dome were later worn by Cher, Princess Stephanie of Monaco, Annie Lennox, Carly Simon, Tracey Ullman, Sarah Brightman of Phantom fame, Marilyn. For more on WorldGreat Simon Forbes, click here:

Hair: Simon Forbes, Antenna, London … Photo: Mike Owen

5 Comments

  1. Sep 15, 2024

    This look was achieved in late 1981, then this girl in the photo had this look created in 1982 and featured on a bbc programme about it, it’s not the 70’s and you could’nt have achieved this until the early 80’s chronologically speaking.

    Since the extension technique did’nt exist until simon forbes invented the single neatly attached hair extension in rows, he also invented the words and terminology ‘hair extensions’ in 1980, theres no written recorded history anywhere prior to simon forbes coining the term in 1980, existing in any prior media anywhere in the world, it was wigs hair pieces weaves and toupes that were everyday terms prior to mr forbes invention of the fact of extensioning and terms in words that became the common usage.

    This 80’s look is not something anyone could have seen any where in the late 70’s no one would had yet visioned a shape and cut like this until around ’81 ’82 it is post punk avantgarde.

    It p’s me off how americans in media articles totally misappropriate simon forbes invention!! casually revising history to make out the 60’s was when extensions appeared And the term (Not yet in existence) was allegedly used according to a lazily written american article i just read called ‘the history of hair extensions’ it cites erroniously, when clearly it was not a thing until the uk antenna salon invented it., hair weavin’ and wigs are a very different thing from single attached extensioning that mr forbes definately invented the whole concept of, as we know it today.

    I had extensions first done in 1987, my sister first had extensions in 1983 a la tom bailey tails style spiked on top, by the time i had it done i had a half head straight mixed blondes browns long slightly face framed layer, very kelly bundy lol without the messyness. i had human hair put in at a cost of £189 at that time.
    I had those small neat thin glued joins in sectioned neat rows (no root plaits or winding) all with a hot glue clamp that took off in the 90’s onwards but this started in the late 80’s.
    and that was here in northern ireland at a salon called ‘Diverse hair’.

    Phillip my extensionist at the time was taught by simon forbes in 1982 to do them but they evolved very quickly to be more natural as people did not generally want the earlier to mid 80’s outlandish styles any more by 87 88,

    70’s revivalist easy kept flatter hair etal was coming in in the uk by late 87 early 88 and would be in full flow by 1991 1992., and rave was happening and more natural easy to deal with hair was what fashionable people of all persuasions wanted, not big permed spikes wedges or dreadful US heavy metal styles, although lots of those were still hangovers still happening in 1988 89.
    All the people of the world who’ve ever had hair extensions then and now who don’t even know it, have No one but Simon forbes to thank!!
    If he had not invented them we would not have had them.

  2. Nov 5, 2014

    Londokid. Thanks. You are right. This look could have been done in the 70s. I note
    I don’t date it on the actual website but did in the blog. Direct link to website
    for this look and others by Simon Forbes.

    https://www.helenoppenheim.com/world-greats/?wppa-album=31&wppa-slide&wppa-occur=1&wppa-photo=1869

  3. Nov 5, 2014

    That was already around in the 70’s

  4. Mar 6, 2014

    It was a very famous photo at the time, got massive press, all over the world. Simon Forbes was way ahead of his time. Pleased you like it. And the blog. Thank you.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.