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.
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Very diplomatic. And I’m sure there was a lot of meaning behind that compliment to Meghan. That was a loaded sentence if ever.
Now, I hope he doesn’t extend these comments by going on a chat show because the rats will push him and push him to say how much he despises Meghan etc
Good for him for not jumping on the Meghan bashing bandwagon. It’s true that for a couple of years after Harry and Meghan got together the royal family was exciting again. That has gone now and no amount of propaganda or “polls” will bring it back.
That bow…oh dear!
I came here to say the same thing. Can you even imagine chosing to wear a bow at 43? Did she knick it from her 10 year old daughter for the day while Charlotte was in school? The youthful kink of flashing her bare ass constantly has evolved into dressing like a little girl in her middle age. I appreciate that he didn’t bash Meghan. He would have gotten way more coverage if he bad been a snarky snark. Keeners hair. Good lort. Why does someone who should have access to the best quality stylists, colorists, wigs, weaves and wiglets have hair that looks so terrible and obviously fake. Her color in the bow pic doesn’t appear professionally done and looks like she used a cheap boxed dye from at home. I don’t think Keener would look good with short, Diana style hair because of the her thin long face, but she has entered farce territory with the wiglets.
That bow is some trad wife styling. It’s awful.
Every time I see that bow, I think she borrowed it from Charlotte.
Diana’s hair was short and curly (ca. 1991). Kate does not “work” despite this person saying so.
Meghan “could have done an amazing job”? She DID do an amazing job. That was part of the problem.
Bingo. Kate was supposed to shine like Meghan was and she didn’t she just faded into the background. And now that Meghan left they are trying to make fetch happen.
She did do an amazing job. But at this point, she was there for such a small amount of time. It’s wild to think what a mark she made for such a a short period. He was pretty diplomatic.
The sneaky perms reminds me of something else I read about Diana. Apparently her makeup artist had a dickens of a time convincing her to stop wearing blue eyeliner. Diana would sometimes be all done up for an event and then scurry away to add the blue eyeliner she was hiding from the mua.
I rather liked Diana’s long hair, but her short ‘do was more chic and probably loads easier to maintain and style, so I get it. I love the detail about that famous shot of Diana in the gown and the Cambridge Lover’s Knot tiara sitting on the floor…that was one of her best portraits.
As for Kate…sigh. No one will say a word about her very obvious fake hair until she’s dead and someone wants to make money from the stories
When Diana got her hair cut in the 90s she had a modern style that still works today.
Kate clings to her wiglets as a blanket and it just looks pathetic. No serious stylist would ever say she has decent hair.
The perm thing is blowing my mind right now. Now I get why her hair stayed perfect. No, it wasn’t insane amounts of hairspray. Just. Wow.
The younger generations don’t know how bad hair salons smelled in the 80s and 90s from the perm chemicals. Salons were straight up stinky. It’s a much more pleasant experience on the senses these days.
I loved Diana’s hair, and still do. I have very fine hair, but would you believe I’ve given it a thought more than once to cut my hair short and do a Diana. I loved her hair. I loved his description of Diana bouncing up the stairs and sticking her hand out. Imagine overcoming the abuse of the toad she married and his family, and developing into the wonderful, strong, dynamic person she became. Her real self. BBC has a documentary about Diana. I’m afraid to watch it in case they have propaganda smeared all over it. She was a stunner, in every way.
“Kate does a great job?” Doing what?
God, he sounds like such a lovely, lovely man. Kind and genuine. And — rarest of things — resisting the urge to judge people in a situation whilst acknowledging how much anguish the situation is causing. That is genuine. I can see why Diana trusted him. The bond you have with your hairstylist is a real thing. I have tricky, curly hair that tends to frizz and I just cut it myself now, at home, with a hand mirror and scissors that are tiny and sharp, because every time I go to a salon, and try to explain what I want, there are kind and sensible people there who nod, and listen, and really try to get it right, and it’s just never quite what I had in mind. Not their fault. There’s one clip in the montage in the Barbie movie, where a woman is putting on blush with a big brush, and catches the eye of the camera operator in the mirror she’s standing in front of, and winks. And that *gets* it for me, the whole dynamic. The Platonic art of making yourself into who you are, the paradox of constructing your look, and your personality, with input, reflection, humour… life is an imitation of life, you try iterations until you get it right. That’s not being “fake,” as people often accuse Meghan of being “actressy” and claim Kate is “down to earth.” I would honestly say the opposite is true. Meghan is much more grounded, in the keeping-it-real California way, and Kate just seems so fussy and paranoid about her image. No one should take herself that seriously.
ParkRunMum, Agree totally on your Princess Meghan/Kate remarks.