Kenneth (hairdresser)
| Kenneth | |
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Kenneth at work in 1962
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| Born |
Kenneth Everette Battelle April 19, 1927 Syracuse, New York |
| Died | May 12, 2013 (aged 86) Wappingers Falls, New York |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Hairdresser |
| Website | kennethsalon.com |
Kenneth Battelle (April 19, 1927 – May 12, 2013), more usually known as Mr. Kenneth, was a leading New York hairdresser from the 1950s until his death. Sometimes described as the world's first celebrity hairdresser, Kenneth achieved international fame for creating Jacqueline Kennedy's bouffant in 1961. He counted Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, and many of America's most high-profile socialites such as Brooke Astor and Happy Rockefeller among his clients. In 1961 he became the first, and only, hairdresser to win a Coty Award.
Kenneth Everette Battelle was born in Syracuse, New York, the eldest son with four younger sisters. His father was a shoe salesman, who divorced his mother when Kenneth was 12, leaving their son to support his family through cooking and washing dishes, selling beer and working as an elevator operator. Aged 17, he joined the navy for eighteen months, after which he studied liberal arts at Syracuse University for six months (which was all his G.I. Bill funding allowed for) before dropping out when the funds ran out. After seeing an advertisement for the Wanamaker Academy of Beauty in New York that promised graduates $100-a-week jobs, he studied there for 6 months, supporting himself by working for a restaurant and playing the piano in a local bar. After this, he studied further at the Marinello Academy of Beauty Culture in Syracuse, before finding a job at the Starlet Beauty Bar salon opposite the Greyhound bus station.
Kenneth was at the Starlet Beauty Bar for four years, where he developed a well-received 1930s-inspired variation on the bob cut called the 'club cut'. After this, in October 1949, he went to Miami to work in a hotel salon. On July 1, 1950, Kenneth moved to Manhattan, New York, where he was offered a job by Elizabeth Arden in Lexington, Kentucky. Rather than move out of New York so soon after moving there, he went to Helena Rubinstein on the 52nd and Fifth instead, for whom he would work for the next five years.
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