Big hair day

August 14 2009

 

Get a Motown makeover at the BIG HAIR DAY

On Sunday 23 August at the special exhibition The Story of The Supremes From the Mary Wilson Collection, visitors are invited to get a Motown makeover with top Bath hair stylists Artizan. Two for one entry to the exhibition at the Council-run Assembly Rooms is on offer for adults and children wearing 60’s outfits on Sunday only. You can complete the Motown look with free hair and make-up sessions on site between 10.30am and 5.00pm.

The trademark thick eyeliner, false eyelashes, and huge backcombed hairstyles synonymous of 60s Supremes style, along with their glamorous gowns and glittering costume jewellery, made the Supremes new role-models for young Americans, both black and white. The Virgin Encyclopaedia of Popular Music noted ‘ with their girl-next-door looks and endearingly unsophisticated demeanour, The Supremes became role models for young Americans.”

 

One visitor to the exhibition from the USA remembers: "My best friend Lisa Norberg and I played Supremes dress-up while playing her sister's Supremes albums, that we weren't allowed to touch. 2 white girls in tiny Tillamook, Oregon. She is a 50+ year old hair dresser now, and still does BIG styles!"

 

And BIG styles will be the order of the day on Sunday. Phil Thompson, owner of Artizan salon, and his staff will be on hand on the day to help you achieve the Motown ‘look’.

 

The Supremes exhibition includes a filmed interview with Maxine Powell who ran The Motown Artist Development Division, or ‘charm school’ for Berry Gordy, Motown’s boss. The mission was simple, as Powell said artists should “be able to dine and converse with kings and queens”. “The artists were diamonds in the rough, and Motown had the good sense to polish them” she said.

 

Mary Wilson in a recent interview comments: “Being an individual was not important to us – we wore the same clothes to show a wonderful sense of sisterhood. We had three totally different personalities and looks, but together we made one perfect unit”.

 

And that ‘perfect unit’ - The Supremes -  can been seen and heard until 31 August at the Assembly Rooms in Bennett Street, 10.30am – 5pm, exit 6pm. http://www.fashionmuseum.co.uk/.

 

Further events planned for the closing weekend 29-31 August include: a Motown is 50! Birthday Special at Komedia on 29 August 11pm-4am www.komedia.co.uk/bath, and a One Day Motown Classics Music Workshop led by American vocalist Joan Davis, on Sunday 30 August 12.00-8pm at the Assembly Rooms. Advanced booking essential on 01225 420783, http://www.truevoice.co.uk/.

 

ENDS