•          HOME PAGE
• BIOGRAPHY
• FILES
• BOOKS
• LINKS
• COMMENTS
• S

BATTELLE Kenneth

Kenneth E.Battelle.

Aka "Mr Kenneth" or "Mrs Kennedy's Kenneth",

Date of birth : April 19, 1927, Syracuse, New York.

Date of death : May13, 2013, Wappingers Falls, New York.

Profession famous New Yorker hairdresser, until 1950s until his death.

Portrait ;;;,;

;;;;;;;;;;


Story

Sometimes described as the most famous hairstylist in the world, he became worldwide famous by creating the

notorious "Bouffant" of Jackie Kennedy's hair in 1961 ().
Among his clients were, for example, besides Marilyn, Audrey Hepburn, and some socialites as Brooke Astor and

Happy Rockfeller ().

In 1961 he became the one and only hairstylist to be awareded with a Coty Award (,

).

First child and son, he had 4 sisters. His father Kenneth Sr ran a shoe store and his mother Virginia was a bookkeeper. The parents divorced when he was aged 12. To help his family, the young Kenneth did many jobs (cook, dishwasher, beer seller, lift technician).
Aged 17 he joined the US Navy for 18 months. Then he studied during 6 months at the Syracuse University (thanks to his army pay) but when he missed money, he had to quit the university.
After having seen an advert for the New York Wanamaker Academy of Beauty, which promised a pay of $100 a week, he studied there for 6 months, and to earn more money to live, he worked in a restaurant and also played piano in a bar. Then he studied at the Marinello Academy of Beauty Culture in Syracuse, before being hired at the Starlet Beauty Bar Salon. He worked there for 4 years, and he developed a variation of the squared haircut (bob cut) of the 1930s, the "Club Cut".

In October 1949 he worked in a hairdressing salon in a hotel in Miami.

July 1st, 1950 he settled in Manhattan and worked during 5 years at Helena Rubinstein's, whose salon was

located 655 5th avenue (,). He did the model's and medias celebrities's hairstyle, because Rubinstein demanded to hairstyle them for free and in exchange to be mentionned in the magazines.

He first met Jackie Kennedy in 1954 throught Rubinstein; Jackie, fresh bride, had stopped at the salon to see Lawrence, her regular hairdresser, but he wasn't there because he was sick. So Kenneth took over from him.

He then worked at Lilly Daché's, a great hat designer. Realizing that hats weren't in fashion anymore, she had created an extravagant pink and white salon to attract the clients. Kenneth was hired to run the salon which

became the more important one in New York (). Among his regular clients was Karlys Daly Brown, the head editor of Glamour magazine, who, in 1961, hired Kenneth to write some articles about the way the women could themselves take care of their hair, and as unique as it was for a hairstylist, made the cover of the magazine.

His talent in hairstyle was the key of Jackie Kennedy's look, with a judicious use of hairspray to make sure the hair didn't move easily, but also for the curls not be rigid.


In 1963 he left Lilly Daché and opened his own salon, on March 4, 1963, located 19 East 54th Street

(,;). This was also his place of living. Sometimes the clients had to wait for 3 months before having an appointment, and to please them, they could find a wig store, a frozen storage for fur coats, massage rooms, steam baths, and they could get a manicure or pedicure.

In 1974 he opened a second salon in Atlanta.

His New York salon was destroyed by a fire on May 16, 1990.
So he rented 6 places in a beauty salon at the Helmsley Palace Hotel and after 2 years, he settled his salon at

the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel (;,,,

,).

In 2002 he chose Kevin Lee, hairstylist employed since 1987, to become the creation head to renew the salon and attract younger clients. Lee preserved the tradition by proposing hairstyles the clients could re do

themselves. Lee was the manager and Kenneth kept hairstyling until 2008 (,).

He died on May 12, 2013 at his home of Wappingers Falls (,,

,,,,,,,).

Link with Marilyn

In 1958, dress designer Norman Norell sent Marilyn to Kenneth, because she complained about the excessives dyes and perms, making her hair fall. He became her favourite hairstylist while she was in New York

().

Letter from Marilyn's secretary to Kenneth dated July 16, 1958 .

He accompanied her in Chicago for the premiere of  "Some Like It Hot" in March 1959 ,;

-;.

March 1961, at her apartment, after she left the hospital ,,-,

,,.


On March 13, 1961, he attended the party given to the Actors Studio's profit, at the Roseland Dance City, New

York  .

The last time he worked for her was for the "The Last Sitting" session in Los Angeles, on July 10, 1962 with

photographer Bert Stern ,,-;-,-

;,

    

BACK TO INDEX                                                                                                                                                  NEXT FILE