Anthony Mascolo The Ultimate Family Man

by Hair's How

How does so much success NOT go to your head? Well, for Anthony Mascolo, creative head of TIGI, it's all in the family! He met up with our Russian Editor, Maria Strekalova, to tell us how he does it.

You began your career very, very young and you have won many awards as one of the best hairdressers in the UK and beyond. When you first started, did you think it would be this way?

When I started out, hairdressing was our family business and I had to do it. By the time I was 17 or 18, I started going with my brother Bruno to photo shoots and I started working for magazines when I was 19. That's when I really started to like it! So, in the beginning you don't think "I'm going to be this or that," you just want to be good at what you are doing. I just got better and better and better and I became infected with becoming the best. I was always trying to do great. My job then was to make Toni&Guy famous. So, in the middle of the 80's through to the end of the 90's I started to do my own photographs and that's when everything changed. Around 1984 we used the photographs to create our own image because before that we looked like everyone else. So, it gave us a big advantage. We also had the education and were always very precise with our technique. With the collections, we got lots of press and publicity and yes, awards! How was it moving from Toni&Guy to TIGI? One day, I had 3000 staff, the next day nothing. It was a shock. For the last five years since we separated, which was the right time, my eldest brother Toni's daughter Sacha, has been in charge of the image of Toni&Guy. She's a brilliant hairdresser and used to work with me all the time and she's doing a great job. My middle brother Bruno, you know is a genius. He's probably the one who really made Toni&Guy. When you follow in someone's footsteps, because I used to work under him, you get that passion and that philosophy. So you adopt it and then you kind of elaborate on it and you share. It was time for me to move on and work with TIGI in a different way. So that's what we did.

You created something special for Toni&Guy and now you're on your own creating something special for TIGI!

Well, we also had TIGI at the time. My brother Toni took Toni&Guy, which was doing very well, and they gave me and my other brothers TIGI, which wasn't doing so well. It didn't matter because the idea was to redo it the way we wanted to and I think, over the last four years, TIGI has gotten very strong and it's only going to get stronger! At first I thought I had to be a product and then I realized I just have to do what I do best: Great hairdressing, great education, and great energy for the company, so that's what we work on.

From the beginning, the business was family; now you're creating your team. How do others fit in?

At the very, very beginning it was just family and it still is. You know, you're born with your family, but you choose your team. So, I've got some of the guys like Mick — he's like my little brother. We've got the team; we work very, very hard, we're very passionate because if you treat people how you want to be treated you teach them as well. I always talk about my older brother Bruno. With family you are always learning all the time and you carry that with you. My team is like a family. But, at the same time its work and you know you have to do it right, so we keep building. We have a studio, we do photography, we have a designer, and we make videos. It's not just a salon. It's still about hair, but we do shoots for other things as well.

You have a creative team and the work isn't from 9 to 6. How would you describe your team?

They're not doing clients every day. We are not creating styles that have been done already. They're trying to see what can be done in the future. We're working with photographs, with clothes… it's a creative team. We're working on image, on commerciality. You know in the end, one of the great successes of Toni&Guy is that we did styles that were very trendy, very simple and people wanted to wear those styles. Simple, nice sexy hair was always our motto.

Do you prefer working in the salon or doing shows?

I like taking pictures and I'm enjoying running the company, working with my brothers. Everything adds, everything becomes stronger. But, you know, I still love doing hair. I'm still coming up with ideas. If I like a style, I get the guys to do it. I don't have to do it anymore really, but sometimes I want to!

How do you manage to stay a good father, a good husband, and maintain your life outside of the work?

Well, my wife works with me, I have been married for 20 years. I have a 20-year-old daughter, a 15-year-old daughter, and an 11-year-old son. We try and do our thing. It's about loving your kids — they're great kids. My wife, I love her to death! We all do a lot together — that's what keeps us strong!

Do you want your kids to pursue careers in hairdressing?

Well we didn't groom them that way so I don't think they will. The two girls are going to university: One for arts and my son plays soccer/football, and will probably like photography, something like that. My oldest daughter, she never learned hairdressing, but she can cut hair because she's been around it so much. She cuts her boyfriend's hair, but that's it.

Can you remember a country that really shocked you?

Well, when I was eighteen, I went to America as a guest artist for Sebastian. And when I got to America it was unbelievable! The roads were so big…the cars, the buildings, it was a shock. And then, a few years later, I went to Japan which was like the movie "Blade Runner." The trains, the motorways, the lights were really cool. But after a couple days, a week, whatever, you get fed up with it. Now you can see it all on TV 24/7. When I was young, TV finished at midnight and there were only two channels.

Your shows are not just hairdressing shows, are they?

Obviously, we do a full presentation. We cut, we color...all of that. But when we did our World Release show in Vegas last Autumn, we did an illusion show because after all, a hairdresser is an illusionist: We create hair for somebody who's not really like that. We want to give everyone a real live experience. They're still talking about it now!

How do you get ideas like that?

It is not just me. I have a good team. My wife, my friends. It starts somewhere. It's usually from me because that's my job as Creative Director. We like to be clever, creative and show everyone something different!

You're always very stylish and well dressed. Who creates your style?

Me. I like to change my style all the time and try new things — I wear whatever I like!

Is it stressful being so successful?

Not really. Stress is something that sometimes you don't realize. But we're very lucky to be doing what we're doing. I can't complain. If you feel that you've got a stressed life, then you're mad. We've got everything we want. I wake up in the morning and thank God. I say 'thank you very much.' When it comes to stress at work, I've got a lot of hairdressers working with me and I'm a good hairdresser and that can be intimidating. I let people start creating if I think they are good, but I still keep them in check. And I can get grumpy sometimes but that's just part of being the boss! I have three photographers that work with me, too. They are trained photographers, but I still carry more than they do.

Your other profession is photography. Did you begin photography and hairdressing together or was one before the other?

I started hairdressing first, in 1974. I started photography 10 years later. It was really a reason to capture the hair because photography captures a moment in time and you can show your work to its best.

What is your philosophy of life?

Treat people how you want to be treated and live for today! Always try to learn to be better. Look after your family, look after who you can if you can and have a good time. It's pretty simple really. You can make it as deep as you want, you know. In the end, you want to share, share what you do and what you're doing and help people to learn.

You have three children. You have taught them a great deal as their father. What have you learned from them?

Patience. You have to have patience and that is a beautiful thing. Spending time with my son, going to see him play football. To do all the little things involved in raising a family brings you back down to earth so that you don't get trapped in your own brain with work and stuff. And you realize it gives you a good balance with everything.

When you have free time, what do you do?

Skiing or going to the Caribbean. Hanging out — that's mainly what we do. We try and do that when the kids are out of school because you have to work your schedule around school, you know!

Often, a woman or a man goes to a hairdresser to cut their hair in a way to change their life. Is this an illusion?

It makes you feel better, makes you feel different, but it's still you, isn't it? But it makes you feel different, so it's an illusion. But, it's a good illusion.

Do you agree that the hairdressing is the art where men make women beautiful?

Yes, it's a key.

Why are men at the top of the hairdressing art?

I don't know. It's a bit like cooking. We have the chefs now and they're all men, aren't they? But women are the ones who do all the cooking every day, aren't they? It's all the same: The women do all the work and the men take the praise. A man can do one thing. A woman can do many things! Someone comes to you and says they want a certain cut. You believe it won't look nice. How do you handle it? I listen. I try to listen to see what they're searching for and to make them feel good. It's not about what I want and what I think what they should have. Hairdressing is, you know, contact.

You're touching someone all the time, so you want to listen first. What is the first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning?

I wish I was still asleep!

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