Vidal Sassoon, who has died aged 84, was perhaps the world's most famous hairdresser and hair stylist.

In the 1950s, when women were wearing very elaborate hairstyles, he made the 'bob' famous - a short, chic cut that looked almost boyish to a generation used to longer, styled hair. He had a number of famous customers like Mary Quant, who created the miniskirt - you could almost say that they invented the 1960s look between them - or the model Jean Shrimpton.


However, for a whole generation the Vidal Sassoon haircut they remembered best was probably the elfin look worn by Mia Farrow in the film Rosemary's Baby. This was copied by huge numbers of women. Sassoon's style was part of the revolution that was taking place in women's lives - instead of spending hours at the hairdresser's having their hair curled and lacquered, they wanted a simple, stylisyh cut to go with a busy working lifestyle.

Sassoon also created a range of styling products under his own name.