Remembering John Barrett, The Iconic Upper East Side Coiffeur

Expert coiffeur and creator of the Bergdorf Blonde, John Barrett, has passed away at the age of 66.

For twenty three years the John Barrett Salon sat perched in the penthouse of Bergdorf Goodman, a beauty Mecca for the New York chic set - society women, magazine editors, you know the type. Martha Stewart might be in one chair, Hillary Clinton in another.

When I moved to New York for college, I knew nothing about nothing. And yet still, I quickly gleaned that the John Barrett Salon was the place to go to feel like somebody going somewhere, doing something, who was someone. I was 18 years old when I first took the elevator up to nine and my hair stylist assumed (and quite laughably insisted) that they must have done my mother's hair, that I must be some Upper East Side duplicate following in her place. Of course nothing could have been farther from the truth. For years my family would poke fun at me for my fancy haircuts. And of course they were right, working two jobs between classes to be a poor student and choosing to spend around $140 on a haircut is on all counts ridiculous. But sitting down in that chair, watching the world go by, a parade of curious women in robes, emerging with a fresh cut and bouncy blowout to descend the store floor by floor, shopping for things I could not buy was a most wonderfully silly indulgence worth saving for.

Mr. Barrett was always making the rounds, chatting up regulars, passing out compliments that hit like magic, and his generosity of spirit will be missed by so many - most of all his amazing staff who continue to operate the salon in its newest incarnation on East 57th Street.

[Photos courtesy the John Barrett Salon]