LOOKING GOOD
The Mystique Of The Gay Hairstylist Unpacking the allure, the stereotype and the magnetism By Adriana Ermter
“I think that the most important thing a woman can have – next to talent, of course – is her hairdresser.” —Joan Crawford
NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2020
For Crawford, that stylist was Sydney Guilaroff, MGM’s chief hairdresser.
for saying, “If you’re going to be a star, you have to look like a star, and I never go out unless I look like Joan Crawford the movie star. If you want to see the girl next door, go next door.” At Guilaroff’s hands, Crawford always looked the part.
Despite her sentiments, however, the girl-next-door style became a If rumour is gospel, in the early 1930s Crawford plucked Guilaroff coveted look. Its appeal started in the ’70s with Christie Brinkley’s from a chi-chi salon in New York City and deposited him in long and loose strands, and was cemented in 1993 via Jennifer Hollywood, where she’d secured his gig at the behemoth studio. Aniston’s character Rachel on Friends. The now-iconic “Rachel” Crawford was under contract with MGM at the time and believed coif is credited to Chris McMillan, Aniston’s long-time hairstylist. only a male hairstylist, particularly one who was gay, knew how to make her look desirable to men. Guilaroff didn’t disappoint: It seems Aniston shares the same sensibility about hairstylists as not Crawford, nor the other MGM starlets, including Claudette Crawford. At the 2018 InStyle Awards, Aniston called McMillan Colbert, Lucille Ball and Judy Garland. He defined each of them her “dearest friend,” her “brother from another mother” and the with their signature styles of baby-doll bangs, fire-engine red waves “husband who will never marry me because he’s gay,” before and Wizard of Oz braids, respectively. presenting him with the Hairstylist of the Year Award on stage. Currently, the two can be seen posing, coifing and hugging in tiny Crawford eventually left MGM for Warner Bros. (where she won little squares on their Instagram pages. Of course, Aniston’s hair an Oscar for her performance in Mildred Pierce), but her respect is flawless with never a hair out of place. for Guilaroff’s magic touch never wavered. She became renowned 6
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