Stylist Charles Worthington reveals all about supermodels, showbiz pals and how it began

Sitting at a wooden table in his white-walled office hidden in the eaves above his luxurious salon in central London, Charles Worthington is reeling off a list of the famous tresses he has tended to over the years.

From styling actresses Sharon Stone and Emilia Fox at the Baftas and Diana Ross for the Met Gala to working with the Sex And The City cast and persuading supermodel Erin O’Connor to chop off her long locks, Charles’s client list reads like a who’s who of showbiz.

“I cut Jerry Hall’s hair on the balcony of my home in St Tropez, overlooking the ocean. She’s great fun,” he says.

Charles, 58, who lives in Chelsea with his partner Allan Peters, is celebrating 30 years since he opened his first salon.

He now has three London outlets that attract 2,000 clients every week.

Not bad for a man who trained to be an architect in the late 1970s but left his studies in York to sweep the floors of a London salon.

“I started at the bottom,” admits Charles, who says the backing of his parents gave him the confidence to follow his dream.

“They were very supportive and knew architecture wasn’t for me. I had friends in fashion and wanted to do what they were doing.”

However his three years training to be an architect were by no means wasted.

“Architecture is about shape, balance and form and that is exactly what hairdressing is about,” he says.

“Hair is architecture for the face, it can make it slimmer, longer, shorter, rounder or squarer.”

Charles opened the doors of his first salon in central London in 1987 and used to hand out flyers at Tottenham Court Road tube station to drum up business.

Before long TV presenter Jonathan Ross and actress Cybill Shepherd were clients and he was styling shows for Betty Jackson and Jasper Conran at London Fashion Week. 

In 1995 he launched his first product range, which he then sold in 2003 for a record sum. Charles spent years working on television for BBC’s The Clothes Show and as the resident hairdresser on ITV’s This Morning.

He won British Hairdresser Of The Year in both 1993 and 1998 and in 2015 was given a lifetime achievement award by the Fellowship of Hairdressers These days Charles still takes a hands-on approach to his salons, training top stylists and developing trends for the year ahead as well as jetting around the globe to see his A-list clients.

“I’ve flown to New York and to LA for a day and then back again,” he says.

“Some people have limitless budgets so when they want somebody they get them.”

Indeed, when styling for the Oscars in the late 1990s, Charles was at the beck and call of Hollywood.

“We hired an amazing house in the Hollywood Hills and transformed it into a salon,” he says.

“We had all sorts of people passing through the doors, from Vanessa Redgrave to the Hilton sisters and Nicole Richie.”

Yet having worked with so many of the world’s biggest stars, is there anyone left he would still like to style? “I’d love to do Lady Gaga – she’s just crazy.

“Or Katy Perry, she’s pretty adventurous. Someone a bit outrageous,” says Charles.

“I’ve no plans to retire. Let’s see what the next 30 years have in store.”

2017 is the 30th anniversary of Charles Worthington Salons.

For more information visit charlesworthingtonsalons.com 

TOP TIPS FOR THE PERFECT CUT

● Before booking an appointment, have a consultation. Make sure your hair is dry when you visit so the stylist can see how it falls.

● The biggest mistake people make is not knowing if they suit warm or cool tones. For example, if you have cool skin, you need cool tones in the colour. Look in your wardrobe and pick out three or four outfi ts that really suit you. Chances are they will be in your correct colour tone. If you pull out reds you’re probably warm while blues would mean you’re cool.

● Go into a department store and try on wigs, allowing you to see if you suit different hair colours.

● There is a fringe for everyone, be it thin, a feathery one or a bold chunky number. If you have an oval face shape you suit most styles, while round shapes suit soft tendrils around the face to contour it. If you have a longer face, a fringe can make it appear shorter.

● Take a photo of what you would like into the salon. The stylist will be able to work with you, taking elements of the style and adapting them to suit you.

● Learn to take “no” for an answer. Sometimes people want a dramatic cut that might not suit them. Your hairdresser will be honest with you and you should listen to their advice.