Photos Helen Oppenheim. Collage helenoppenheim.com
It is 20 years since the legendary John Sahag left us to do the hair of the angels (January 2, 1952 – June 15, 2005). The Lebanese-born Australian-raised Armenian became famous in Paris as the first internationally-recognized freelance hairdresser. He worked his magic on the heads of the supermodels and superstars of his era and made The Dry Cut famous in his John Sahag Workshops on Madison Avenue in NYC from 1985, active until recently.
This collage shows just some of his magic which made him so famous. It was the last time I saw him, at the IBS Fuse Show in New York, 2003, when I photographed his futuristic butterflies backstage.
Hair was braided, wrapped, twisted, knotted, in butterfly shapes. Meticulously engineered couture hairpieces (which took 4 hairdressers and 4 assistants 4 weeks to create) were cut-up, colored, entwined, tied with elastics and attached to heads, with seams showing, some sprayed with more color, a crazy abstract playful hair mix. Sahag was inspired by the butterfly theme of Gaelyn & Cianfarano’s stunning summer fashions, some in latex, and leather-look recycled bicycle rubber inner tubes.
To see more magical photos by Sahag, to read about him, how-to’s, all with plenty of inspiration, go to Hair Then/John Sahag on this website, helenoppenheim.com
Hair: John Sahag, The John Sahag Workshop, NYC, 2003 … Makeup: Jun Funahashi/L’Atelier … Butterfly Tattoos: Stephanie Tomaz … Fashions Gaelyn & Cianfarani … Fashion Styling: Lisa Von Weise … Photos: Helen Oppenheim