Fashion first drew me to the beauty world. I was a kid in the 1960s. We were the post-war youth generation — the first that didn’t dress like our parents. And the 1970s were the best time to be a teenager. There was the cult of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie. The fashion tribes were emerging… We had the most fantastic golden years of growth, inspiration and freedom to be who you are.
I think David Bowie has inspired my career most. He completely changed his persona through fashion, hair and make-up every few years. Seeing the power of that as a teenager affected me profoundly. He made “different” acceptable and aspirational.
Beauty is many things… There’s beauty in colour and in form. But for me, it’s about having an eye that sees and appreciates beauty. I think a lot of people don’t, but I’m glad I do. I look at a leaf, or colour, or cloud, even a relationship and think how beautiful it is.
My proudest moment? They say pride comes before a fall. But I guess I’m pretty proud that I’ve stretched it out so long!
My beauty icon has to be Debbie Harry. She was the Marilyn Monroe of punk, with this otherworldly beauty. She’s one of a handful of people — Bowie, Kate Moss, Marilyn and Andy Warhol — who consistently remain on the moodboards for shows and fashion shoots.
A pinch me moment? Lots of amazing trips with Princess Diana, when I was doing her hair. We accompanied her to refugee camps in Pakistan, to Mother Teresa’s in India. It was at times harrowing, but opened up my mind.
My brand, Hair by Sam McKnight, was brewing for years. It got to the point where working backstage and on shoots was really pressured. Where we’d once do a single beauty look for 10 pages, suddenly we were doing 10 different looks, but the styling products we used were still really heavy. We had to constantly wash hair between shots and shows, then start all over again. I thought, let’s make products that are powerful, but lightweight, easy to use, and to understand. So we did.
There’s lots going on right now. We’ve just launched our first fully sustainable packaging in the form of our Pure Genius Scalp Oil (£35, sammcknight.com) — it’s plastic-free and home-compostable. So that’s exciting, but it’s early days and we’re trying to make it work across the range. And we launched a hair fragrance this week — The Fragrance (With Benefits). It costs £44 and it’s our most requested product to date.
I love working with Kate [Moss], which I have done for years. Last year [make-up artist] Mary Greenwell and I had dinner at Claridge’s with Cindy [Crawford], Christie [Turlington], Naomi [Campbell] and Linda [Evangelista] . We hadn’t all been in the same room for maybe 25 years, and it was beautiful. We laughed and cried, and told stories about people who are not with us anymore. It was amazing. These girls were teenagers when we did those shoots all over the world together. It was our formative years and such a special time. It felt like family.
In terms of my own grooming routine I do Pilates, circuit training, a bit of yoga and take Humantra Electrolytes daily (£28, humantra.co.uk). I love the Jones Road Hippie Stick (£36, jonesroadbeauty.com), Skin Rocks The Cream Cleanser (£32, skinrocks.com) and First Aid Ultra Repair Cream Balm (£25, boots.com), which really helps my psoriasis. Caudalie Replenishing Body Butter Body Cream (£26, uk.caudalie.com) is great for hairy arms and legs because it’s not at all claggy.
I keep my scents downstairs in the kitchen because I don’t know what I want to smell like until the moment I leave the house. I’ve worn Dior Eau Sauvage (£79 for 50ml, dior.com) for years and occasionally layer it with a Commes de Garcons Series 4 Cologne Vettiveru (£65, libertylondon.com). I love the smell of newly cut grass and my Diptyque Tubéreuse candle (£79, diptyqueparis.com) too.
The hair hack everyone should know? You needn’t struggle to make your hair perfect and become frustrated when it doesn’t. It’s okay that it’s not perfect. It’s actually better when it’s not perfect!
If I could do the hair for one person in history it would have to be the late Queen. Wouldn’t it have been great to change her hair? I would probably be sent to The Tower, but it would have been worth it.
My happy place is, without question, my garden. I lose myself for a few hours planting and sowing seeds. I’ve got my own vegetables, the dahlias are up, and the weather’s been magnificent this year…
