| Main Performers | Toni and Guy International (London and Rome)
Equipe Arte and Tecnica
Rainer Lind
Peter Kettman,
Ad Peters,
Ellen Van Wijngaarden
Adrian Fuller,
Leighton |
| Set List | The National Anthem',
'We are the Champions', Queen |
| Performance Notes | "The Albert Hall hummed softly with hairdryers and the corridors were full of lovely forbidding-looking girls in curlers and smooth men in cashmere or elegant tweed. Demonstrations were given by Italian, German, Dutch, British, Spanish, Japanese, American and French hairdressers.
The scissor superstars performed on a specially constructed stage in the Albert Hall. Chairs were set out on the stage, mood music was played, models pranced. Video cameras homed in on the girls' ears, curls, partings and plaits and the picture of the artistry was projected on to a huge screen above the stage.
In one of the backstage dressing rooms Adrian Fuller, winner of the Men's World Championships in New York, prepared his own presentation. As he talked, and the models were combed and curled, a tough-looking man sat in a nearby chair with his arms folded. I thought he was a bodyguard. Suddenly, in the middle of the conversation, Mr Fuller pounced on the man and pulled his hair to reveal a naked pate. 'I also do toupees,' he said. 'This, to my knowledge is the first ever parting Afro toupee.' The man smiled good-naturedly. My Fuller is 27. He said he had wanted to be a hairdresser for as long as he could remember. 'I can remember going along with my mum and sitting on her knee while she had her hair done.' Now he is one of two directors of Carlo and Geoffrey International with five salons in Leeds. 'We bought Carlo out,' he said...
One of Adrian Fuller's salons in Leeds is called Alias Quiff and Combs. Hairdressers obviously like playing with words, e.g. Hair and Now, Hair Peace, Hair to Stay, Hair We Are, Hair Lines, Mane Line. 'This boy eats, sleeps, drinks and thinks hairdressing' his manager said proudly. Then Adrian Fuller's presentation began. It was introduced with the playing of the National Anthem and two men dressed as guardsmen wearing bearskins marching on the stage. As Mr Fuller bounded on in his mauve shirt, the music switched to 'We are the Champions' by Queen. 'Adrian's speciality is a short wire brush and a blow dryer,' the commentator said in an awed voice. 'He is persuading that hair from the roots to move.
So where is hair going? Anthony, of Toni and Guy declared that this spring hair would be short and blonde. Rainer Lind, director of Aktionsgruppe Haartformer of Germany agreed. 'After being tatty and long, we will have the short, neat look,' he said. Punk? 'No chance in Germany at all.' Adrian Fuller added to the bafflement by announcement; 'Hair's getting longer. This year it will be at least touching the shoulders. Perms have gone down well and will continue.' 'Hair will be short and blonde, and black, brown and green, anything the client wants,' said Harold Leighton grandly. Mr Leighton, according to the Congress programme, is internationally acclaimed as a 'Crimper extraordinaire.' He was discussing with Evelyn Moulard, of Rene, the prospects of a comeback for pin-curling and roller setting. 'They are coming back in a whole new ball game,' he said. 'Pin-curling and roller setting will be so new it will blow the hairdressers minds.'
I left the Albert Hall with an itchy scalp." (Oliver Pritchett in Newcastle Evening Chronicle 17 January 1978) |
| Related Archival Material | Programme (RAHE/1/1978/4) |