Sam McKnight is a famous British hair stylist. He’s done hair for probably thousands of magazine shoots and ad campaigns. His big claim to fame was that he was Princess Diana’s favorite hairstylist in the 1990s, and he was widely credited for getting Diana to ditch the big hair and go for that choppy, shaggy, minimalist style she adopted post-separation. Well, McKnight turned 70 years old and he gave a few interviews about his birthday, his salon and all of the famous women he’s worked with. His comments about Diana and the other royal women got a lot of attention.
Meeting Diana on a shoot with Patrick Demarchelier: “Princess Diana comes bouncing up the stairwell,” says McKnight. “She stuck out her hand with a big smile and said, ‘Hi, I’m Diana’ – both of us melted.” Somehow, during that shoot, Demarchelier convinced the Princess of Wales to sit on the floor. “Patrick’s French accent was very strong, indecipherable. He kept saying, ‘Sit on the floor bébé. Bébé, sit on the floor,’” McKnight demonstrates, fondly mimicking the photographer. She found the whole thing hilarious. “‘He wants me to sit on the floor? [But] I’ve got a ball gown on.’ She was really laughing,” he remembers.
He convinced Diana to stop getting perms: During their early years together, McKnight delicately manoeuvred the Princess away from her fail-safe perm. “I was back and forth between London and New York working – in between she’d often have a sneaky perm,” he says, laughing. Two years in, she adapted to McKnight’s modernity, giving him carte blanche to style her hair as he saw fit, which by the mid-’90s meant a soft and understated look.
He adored Diana: Though McKnight is respectfully tight-lipped about what was said between them, their relationship ran deep. “I loved her,” he emphasises. “She was so funny. She was so funny,” he repeats. “She sent [me] these really filthy birthday cards from this card shop on Kensington High Street.”
There is no replacement for Diana: “There’s never really been a replacement [for her],” he says, quickly correcting himself. “That’s the wrong word. No one has ever fitted into that spot she created, there’s been a void there.”
McKnight remains a faithful supporter of the Royal family. “I think Kate does a great job.” He pauses. “I think Meghan could have done an amazing job too, I really do. And I thought that was sad, you know?”
The bit about Diana’s perm was news to me, I had no idea she was getting sneaky perms! That’s so funny, but it explains how she got so much volume in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. As for what he says about there being no replacement for Diana… he’s right and people are mad that he’s right. The royals and the press have been chasing that Diana high ever since. They had it briefly with Meghan, but their own racism prevaled over the need to exploit another woman. Meanwhile, I would love to know what professional hair stylists really think about Kate AND her hair. Alas, McKnight wants those honors, so he’s going to keep his mouth shut about another hair stylist’s work.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.
