Wild west hair salon 'calamity janes' launches in london
Published
27th Aug 2020
by kieran
A wild west themed salon called Calamity Janes Hair Saloon has recently launched in Hackney, East London.
The new salon features Victorian and Tex-Mex relics as part of its interior to immerse clients in this past era. Also included is distressed leather seating, which offers “the comfort of a gentleman’s club,” and tasselled lampshades and subtle gilding for an “understated feminine charm.”
Calamity Janes was the collaborative idea of Stephen Murphy, who runs East End-based Hound Dog Barbershop, and prolific stylist Nina Butkovich-Budden, whose resume includes working on Hollywood films, couture catwalks and television, recently with historian Dr Lucy Worsley. Other celebrity clients include Lady Gaga, Pamela Anderson and Brenda Blethyn.
Nina is also credited with helping launch the “vintage hair” trend in 2005 due to her vintage/retro hair salon, Nina’s Hair Parlour. After travelling the world and working on various film productions, Nina recently isolated in Hackney during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following a coffee meeting, the pair decided to combine their creative efforts and launch a new salon as they wanted to “lift people’s spirits and put a fire in the belly of their staff and the people of East London.”
The choice behind the unique theme was inspired by their mutual love of spaghetti westerns. including directors Sam Peckinpah and Sergio Leone, and “non-conforming outlaws” who “break the barriers, experiment, find solutions and embrace challenges.”
Other features of the salon include original saloon doors and ‘The Golden Garter’, a red velvet in-house stage designed by the director of the Carl Rosa Opera, Peter Mulloy. Mug shots of female outlaws can be found hung over the walls along with wild west Victorian mirrors.
Despite a sign out front asking clients to “leave your horse, guns and men outside”, the salon caters to everyone, offering cut and dries, fringe cuts, men’s haircuts and ‘vintage hair sets’.
