One of the perks of being a writer is the opportunity to spend time talking about something of genuine interest with a subject I respect. Today that somebody was Danilo Dixon, hair guru in the worlds of fashion, music and film. Due to the many mutual friends and collaborators in our respective lives, our paths have crossed before. It just took the excuse of my current book project to finally stop and chat one-on-one.
The impetus for our coast-to-coast conversation (he in N.Y.C.; me in L.A.) was his contribution to the beauty book I'm writing with Dita Von Teese. Over a full 90 minutes this afternoon we talked shop—hair, beauty, general aesthetics, big 'dos in the early 1980s...and by this I mean the teased bouffants like the ones he as a fledgling stylist in SoHo would conjure for the B-52s, or that I would do as a high schooler on my self every morning.
Discussions of beehives invariably lead to the Coke can method, where by the broads of the late 1950s and early 1960s who wanted theirs bigger and bolder purportedly used soda pop cans to roll their dyed locks (because, of course, the hair was treated to the hilt!).
Danilo famously showed this in an editorial with Naomi Campbell, one of the band of Supermodels (with a capital "S," no doubt) whom he cemented his career on. In those years, he recalled today, he was doing upwards of 17 shows a season—and that was just in Europe.
Decades later when Danilo collaborated on an editorial look for Lady Gaga, the pop superstar took a page out of his legendary book and had him roll her hair in Diet Coke cans. It's a contemporary tweak that is as hilarious as it is clever.
But as Mr. Dixon has shown so often throughout his rich and inspired career, genius is in the details.
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