VIDAL SASSOON

So I was shampooing at 14. But I've always thought that had I the opportunity for an education, I would have been an architect. There's no question about it.

I'll never forget one morning I walked in and I had a hell of a bruise - it had been a difficult night the night before - and a client said to me, 'Good God, Vidal, what happened to your face?' And I said, 'Oh, nothing, madam, I just fell over a hairpin.'

Most people have excellent necks. Now they cover them with curtains, which is kind of ridiculous. But there are some beautiful necklines that you can cut into and create wonderful backs, as well as bone structure for the face.

My mother had a premonition and she felt that hairdressing would be very very good for me.

Judaism is important to me from a tribal point of view.

You must always do what you feel is right.

If you have a sense of style and purpose and will you don't want to compromise.

I don't sort of sit in a chair and pompously feel proud of myself about all the things we might have accomplished.

I just consider being one of the luckiest people in the sense that creativity came to me and it flowed.

If you don't look good, we don't look good.

'The Pianist' is a movie I could watch over and over again.

Capri on the Amalfi Coast in Italy is my ultimate holiday destination.

For nine years I worked to change what was hairdressing then into a geometric art form with color, perm without setting which had never been done before.

I came home after a year and although my profession was only hairdressing, I knew I could change it.

I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy.

Mary Quant is my favourite fashion designer.

If you get hold of a head of hair on somebody you've never seen before, cut beautiful shapes, cut beautiful architectural angles and she walks out looking so different - I think that's masterful.

We learned to put discipline in the haircuts by using actual geometry, actual architectural shapes and bone structure. The cut had to be perfect and layered beautifully, so that when a woman shook it, it just fell back in.

A working woman could save a few shillings a week, and then every five weeks she'd come in and we'd cut her hair. She could shampoo it under the shower, swing it and dry it off or just let it dry by itself. It changed the lives of many young girls who'd never had the opportunity to be styled like that before.

Hair excited me. As the old ways - backcombing, rollers and rigidity - went out of the window, I started to feel the possibilities in front of my eyes.

I got a telegraph from my mother who said that my step-father had had a heart attack, come home and earn a living. So I went back to England and the only thing I knew to earn any cash was through hairdressing.

Bring out the eyes.

From my point of view, there is a tremendous amount to be said for secular humanism.

You either create something and you keep it a secret and you die with it, or you can benefit the craft.

To me hair dressing means shape. It's very important that the foundations should be right.