The man behind fashion’s most famous Bob

For the past six years, at 8 a.m., Andreas Anastasis has been walking to Greenwich Village Town House in Winter, where he maintains for about 20 minutes each week, whether cutting, painting, spraying, blow-drawing or styling. . The most instantly recognized bob in fashion – probably the world. Not far from there, “across the street from Carrie Bradshaw’s house,” he has been running a salon named after him for almost a decade, where he now works two days a week. Enjoy the only magazine in the waiting area.

But back in his loft in the meatpacking district of New York, Anastasis practiced another discipline. For this he hides his head.

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During a recent inspection, plaster castings of muscular backs and fat calves came out of the walls like the colors of ancient Greek warriors. In a nearby courtyard, the 47-year-old artist spread her breasts, buttocks, fists, arms and abdomen to her friends and lovers to join the sculpture collage. But the busts were mostly preserved out of the bedroom, out of sight.

Nothing in the apartment hinted at his career outside the industry. With the exception of his favorite yorkipu, called London, whose fur was pulled back into a flirty topcoat, there was no indication that Anastasis had such a thing. Which means, because, except for the weird pictures on his Instagram feed, he didn’t talk about it.

Being the hairstylist of Anna Vintur, the top editor of American Vogue, may sound glamorous, but it is her art practice that speaks to Anastasis. (Mark LJ / The New York Times)

As the top editor of American Consumer since 1988, Wintu has long been a subject of public fascination and scrutiny. Meryl Streep, a fictional version of her, starred in the 2006 film “The Devil’s Wear Prada”, which itself was based on Lauren Weissberger’s Roman A Claf as her Wintu assistant and was the subject of Amy Odell’s recent biography. Among which was a widely circulated gossip item of choice for steak at lunch and a capress salad without tomatoes.

Winter’s relatives understand the importance of prudence. Instead, that prudence keeps them close to him.

“Anna is one of the most trusted people I know,” says Anastasis, who no longer has regular celebrity clients. “When you go to his house, almost everyone who works there stays there forever.”

In the early days of the epidemic, when no one was cutting their hair – or at least admitting it – Anastasis always showed up at Winter’s house, but she wore a hazmat suit. After each of her public appearances, she scrolls through Getty Images to make sure her hair is properly patted. When Winthur travels to Europe for a fashion show, he sends dyes with detailed instructions to ensure that his team hires international stylists. And while he’s out of town, he’s in charge of his former employee, Lisa Jillian Marconi, who now works at the Vidov West saloon.

“I’m more obsessed than Anna,” he said. “When it’s not perfect, I go crazy.”

When asked about Anastasia, Wintur wrote in an email, “The level of her sacrifice is rare and glad to be around.” “When I need him, day or night, and he is so careful and cautious about his work. I consider myself lucky to have known Andreas for so many years and I have seen his skill, creativity and commitment over and over again. I enjoy my time with him. “

“I trust him completely,” Winthur wrote.

He should. For every question cut very closely with Winter’s personal life – did he meet her with freshly washed hair? Or does he wash the bathroom sink for her? Does he like to chat? Gossip? Laugh? What kind of music does he play? How does he take his morning coffee? Does he wear his trademark sunglasses at home? What about pajamas? Slippers? A dress? – Anastasis had the same answer: “It’s between him and me.”

Although he admitted that people might be surprised at his warmth. “I like working with him,” he said. “She’s always been very nice to me.” According to Anastasia, she has also been encouraged and admired for her art practice. “I took pictures of his dog and gave him framed pictures as a gift,” he said of his Goldenduddles. “She gets it perfectly.”

Start again

On a sunny May day, Anastasis wore a white tank top and black gym shorts showing off some of her many tattoos, including Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man on his left thigh and his name inscribed with a thorny curse. Characters across his upper back. He is sitting on his computer searching for a video that he animated from a piece of his own MRI.

“I have so much energy to create. And I would have continued, if I hadn’t run out of space,” he said.

Elsewhere in his home, there were paintings pouring cloudy resin; At age 15, he took pictures with a disposable camera; And a pair of awards for two short films on mental health.

Anastasis was raised by Cypriot immigrants in Beckenham, Kent. Her father, a cobbler, made shoe designs for Jimmy Chur. Her mother owned the Fiji Unisex Hair Salon, where the older women in the neighborhood used to go for their weekly shampoo and set treatments. From an early age, she loved hair: at night, when everyone went to bed, she would take off the Barbie dolls hidden from her two older sisters and braid them.

So she was surprised when she was admitted to the Fashion Design Technology program at the London College of Fashion. “Did you know there was noise?” Says Anastasis. “I went into fashion because my dad said only gay men do hair.” Laughing, he added, “Okay, it didn’t work.”

In her early 20’s, after working at Tony and Guy’s London saloon for about a year, Anastasis moved to New York. He has romanticized the city since watching the 1991 documentary “Madonna: Truth or Dare,” which was revolutionary in its casual portrayal, especially due to its conservative upbringing. He crashed into a cousin’s sofa in Jersey City, which he shared with a male escort he saw on Craigslist, until he saved enough money to afford a haircut to rent an attic apartment on Murray Hill in a Manhattan neighborhood.

Anastasia was lying on a mattress on the floor, but she could see the Empire State Building from her window. “It was heaven,” he said. During the day, he worked as a stylist at the Robert Cree Salon; At night, he was a go-go boy at clubs like Twilight and Limelight. “I was making hair on acid,” said Anastasis, whose drug use eventually cost her her job at the salon. “I have a cigarette in one hand and a blow dryer in the other. I would run downstairs to take cocaine, and then come back and burn someone’s hair. “

When he was 28, he returned to London to activate his green card. Her parents picked her up at the airport. “I was really spiral,” he recalled. “My mother saw me and immediately said, ‘You look like death.’ That’s when I knew I needed to be clear. And then the second phase of my life began. ”

Anastasis returned to New York and successfully begged to get his job back. He also received spirituality and later adopted Veganism. Today, she meditates twice a day for 20 minutes, and has a weekly phone session with an energy healer from San Francisco who tells her that in a past life she was a medieval astrologer who also cut her hair and was executed, and her mother’s lover.

“As you know, I can be quite a claimant.”

More than a decade ago, Anastasis received a call that changed her life. One of her makeup artist friends said she needed to meet. “I can’t tell you who it is,” he said. But it is high profile. Just show the address. “

It was Wintour’s. He needed a blowout.

“I knew who Anna Wintur was, but I didn’t invest that much,” Anastasis said. She would see him every few months when her long-term hair stylist was unavailable. Nearly six years of Anastasia’s casual arrangement with Winter, during which time she opened a salon of her own, retiring her stylist.

“One day Anna turned to me and said, ‘Suzanne is leaving. Will you be open to taking responsibility? ‘”Said Anastasis.” He goes,’ As you know, I can be quite a claimant. ‘”

But he stumbled upon his portrayal as a ruthless editor. “When a man does what he does, he is a businessman. But Anna gets such a hard rape because she is a woman. It’s frustrating, “he said. “Listen, I think he’s a friend without going too deep. In my hair career, she is undoubtedly the highlight. Even when I retire from hair, I will not retire from Anna. As long as he’s gone, so am I.

And with both of them, her iconic hairstyle. “I would dislike changing it,” Anastasis said. “It’s like Carl Lagerfeld was released from his ponytail. Or Marilyn Monroe is going brown. That’s Bob. “

This article was originally published in the New York Times.

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