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Rock Chic
Date Added: 2009-07-14
Get ya rockabilly on and quiffs a-go-go and party on down to the most happening place for all those crazy cats of hair – a hang-out called ‘It’s Something Hells’ salon. Hidden away in the ever so cool Kingly Court, central London, Sarah Andrews jived on down to see what ‘the haps’ was.
Here’s a tale about a two-in-one salon in London’s kitsch Kingly Court, a hidden oasis of cool just off Carnaby Street. There’s a part for gals; all boudoir chic in Miss Betty’s Beauty Parlour, and a part for guys - sheer bad boy rockabilly in It’s Something Hells. The common denominator of these two salon facets is vintage glamour, something the owners, Mr Ducktail and Miss Betty, specialise in.
The name is of course rooted in rock ‘n’ roll history, as Mr Ducktail explains: “We wanted a name our customers would immediately associate with. It comes from a song It’s Something Else, which is from the 50s. We changed the last word, because in France, there’s a saying that if something comes from hell, it’s cool, you know?”
“We had a shop back in France,” coos Miss Betty, her French accent adding to the allure of it all. “Mr Ducktail had his own shop, then he came to work in mine. But we decided to sell both and move to England.” >>
The married couple met at hair college in France (“I can’t remember the name,” Mr Ducktail confesses) and moved to London about a year ago. Choosing the cool Kingly Court in Carnaby Street, London, was no coincidence: “We have a friend who has a shop here, and it didn’t take us long to work out where we wanted our salon to be based,” explains Mr Ducktail.
The salon screams vintage decadence (even the backwashes are vintage), with a lot of the furniture being brought over from France: “The furniture is 40s and 50s themed, and a lot of it I had already in my other salon,” says Miss Betty.
Mr Ducktail has had a long affinity with rock. “I was first introduced to the rockabilly look and feel when I watched Grease,” he says with a wry smile, confessing he just loved John Travolta’s look. The same can be be said for Miss Betty, who’s had a fascination with all things pin-up since she discovered Betty Page.
Each part of the salon has its own waiting room, so the guys and gals sit their derrieres on some pretty cool furniture. The girls get a particularly impressive looking red, velvet chaise. “That is my favourite piece of furniture,” confirms Miss Betty, “I got it from a shop in France called Bretz and couldn’t bear to part with it.”
The boys get to wait for their quiffage on some 50s inspired leather seating. “I used to have old cinema seating, but being on the third floor has meant I can’t have anything that has to be nailed to the floor, so I bought these seats from eBay instead,” shares Betty.
The wooden flooring was already there when the pair bought the salon, its simplicity offsetting the walls which are littered with rock ‘n’ roll icons and sexy pin-up girls.
Each part of the salon has a ‘look book’, with photos of past creations from the dynamic duo: “We feel this helps to sell more to the clients, and they have a full understanding of the work we do,” Mr Ducktail says.
Mr Ducktail specialises in creating slicked-back 50s quiffs, reminiscent of Johnny Bravo, while Miss Betty does curls a-go-go that would make burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese jealous.
Gorgeous chandeliers from the 30s are suspended from the ceiling, (all from eBay), and the background music echoes the days-gone-by feel of the salon, with Johnny Cash and old rhythm ‘n blues style music vibrating around the walls.
The music however doesn’t come from the visible vinyl player, as you’d expect. “That’s just there for decoration,” says Mr Ducktail, “it was another eBay purchase, and it’s a good job it doesn’t work, because we get so many people touching it, it’d probably break anyway.”
The beauty of the salon is that it’s open to everyone: “We do get a lot of musicians in and burlesque girls, but generally, we’re just open to anyone who’s got good taste,” says Miss Betty.
Rock on, It’s Something Hells, rock on...
