1954 Kenneth makes over newlywed Jacqueline Kennedy after being paged to fill in for colleague Lawrence at Helena Rubenstein who is home sick. Kenneth softens and lengthens Jacqueline’s hair.
1956 Kenneth comes to Lilly Dache’s salon, housed in her 9-story millinery emporium, and quickly makes it the most important salon in New York.
1958 Marilyn Monroe, who is just finishing up “Some Like It Hot”, seeks Kenneth’s help on the advice of designer Norman Norell for her hair that is falling out from overbleaching and perming. Kenneth makes Marilyn’s hair softer, smoother and straighter. From then on, every time she is in New York she comes to see Kenneth.
1959 Kenneth travels with Marilyn Monroe to the world premiere of Some Like It Hot in Chicago.
1960 Kenneth creates his tousled bouffant for Jacqueline Kennedy.
1961 Kenneth grooms all of the Kennedys for Inauguration Day.
1961 Kenneth receives Coty Award. It’s the first and last ever given to a hairdresser.
1962 Kenneth grooms Marilyn Monroe for JFK’s 45th birthday rally at Madison Square Garden where she sings the infamous “Happy Birthday Mr. President”.
1962 Kenneth styles Marilyn Monroe’s hair for what ends up being her final photo session with Bert Stern for Vogue. Five weeks later she dies.
November 21, 1963 Kenneth cuts Jacqueline Kennedy's hair at 7:00 am just before she leaves with her husband for Dallas. The next morning JFK is assassinated.
1963 Kenneth’s longtime dream of owning his own Salon with impeccable service and pampering is realized. Kenneth opens at 19 East 54th Street in the 17,000 square foot Renaissance Revival townhouse that had been a former Vanderbilt residence. Decorator Billy Baldwin brings Kenneth’s design vision of the Salon to life. The inspiration for the decor came from the Brighton Pavilion includes a red and yellow awning, wrought iron doors with pattern and color everywhere.
1960’s-1970’s Kenneth styles his signature free, soft and pretty hair for Vogue, Glamour and Harper's Bazaar cover shoots.
1986 Kevin Lee is hired.
May 16th, 1990 The salon burns down.
1990-1991 Kenneth rents chairs in a Salon. A third of his staff follow him and the remainder promise to return as soon as he has a location, large enough to house them all.
August 3, 1992 Kenneth Salon reopens in its new location at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Kenneth refers to this new space as a "Jewel Box" which retains many of the special signature touches including uniformed maids servicing William Poll catered finger sandwiches, take home bottles of Kenneth nail polish, post manicures and pedicures and foil covered cups for beverages to keep out loose hairs.
2002 Kevin Lee is named Creative Director of Kenneth Salon.
September 2004 Kenneth® hair care and brush line is created. The Kenneth® hair care and hair styling lines have been developed to enable our customers to effortlessly recreate their hair styles at home so that they can maintain the fashions we create for them long after their visits to the salon. The product line has been limited to ten products in order to provide our clients with an uncomplicated hair management system that demystifies the hair care and hair styling processes.
Photo Credits:
Kenneth with Marilyn Monroe (top left) by Eve Arnold
Kenneth with model (bottom right) by Bert Stern
