Salon Guys Spotlight: Yakko Takahashi - The First Japanese Stylist
David Bowie and “Yakko” Takahashi - Photo by Sukita
This is a story about the first Japanese hair stylist, Yakko Takahashi. Like many great stylists, she is a master of working in the background, and because of that her name isn't mentioned much. But in the flood of mourning backlash from David Bowie's death, you've probably read a few stories about the creation of the Ziggy Stardust character in which she had a pivotal but rarely mentioned role.
Hair Stylist Sets the Scene
Yasuko“Yakko” Takahashi is not known for her skill as a hair stylist. In fact, you would be hard-pressed to find any work specifically credited to her even though she was around for several iconic shoots, including the one that produced Bowie's album cover for Heroes. Yakko is better known for knowing people, and knowing how to connect the people she knew. This ability probably flourished in the cultural hub of Harajuku, where Yakko's work started finding recognition in magazines, and she developed relationships with two artists who become the biggest Japanese influences on Bowie's career.
Bowie and Yakko before Radio City Music Hall concert - Photo by Sukita
A Stylist with Connections
Bowie had always been fascinated with Japanese culture. His dance and mime teacher introduced him to kabuki theater, a form of silent dance drama similar to miming. Around the start of the 70's Bowie was experimenting a lot with looks and gestures he found in Japanese art, especially that of fashion designer Kansai Yamamoto. This was a big name in the fashion world at the time (and still is). Big enough for Yamamoto to become the first Japanese fashion artist to have a show in the London Fashion Week in 1971. As it happens, Yamamoto often employed Yakko for his shows, and brought her on as a producer for his London show.
But Yakko wasn't only in London for fashion week, because she also happened to be the go-to stylist and good friend of Masayoki Shukita, the prolific photographer known best for his work with Bowie, T. Rex, and Iggy Pop, and now his book, Speed of Life. She had set up a meeting for him with Marc Boland's manager (the lead man of T. Rex) to talk about doing a photo shoot for the band.
While Yakko and Sukita were walking the streets of London, they happened upon a poster advertising one of Bowie's upcoming performances. This image of Bowie inspired both Sukita and Yakko to do their own shoot with this unique artist. So once again, Yakko makes a few calls, particularly to Bowie's manager at the time, Tony Defires. After looking at Sukita's portfolio, Defires and Bowie agreed to a shoot with him. So Sukita set up the shoot, and Yakko went along, bringing with her a few pieces from Yamamoto's fashion show.
Yakko and Ziggy Stardust
Bowie connected so quickly with both the photographer and the stylist that Shukita would continue to photograph Bowie for many years, and Yakko was almost immediately hired as one of Bowie's touring hair and fashion stylists. This proved to be a great decision on Bowie's part, because shortly after, in 1973, Yakko invited Yamamoto to come to one of Bowie's shows in New York because he was using pieces he had created. The Bowie and Yamamoto met after the show and went on to collaborate throughout the Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane tours.
"David Bowie - Heroes" by Sukita
In the meantime, Yakko continued to collaborate with Sukita, including on an impromptu shoot in Japan from which the famous Bowie portrait you see on the Heroes album came. While Yakko is never mentioned as being the stylist on this shoot, she did pick up Bowie and Iggy Pop from the airport, introduce them to some of her favorite streets of Tokyo, and acquired the clothes for the shoot.
Yakko Takahashi has since fallen out of the sliver of spotlight she shared in the 70's. As far as the public can tell, she hasn't done much since her time with Bowie and Sukita. At least, not with anyone with near the same level of fame. But there's no denying she was instrumental bringing that fully matured flair to Bowie's career. And that's really the goal of a great hair stylist: to bring about visual fulfillment. She only did that partly with her hair styling, but her skills clearly were not constrained to the scissors and hairspray .She seemed to know how to be at the right place at the right time with the right people, and if none of those seemed to be lining up, she lined them up herself.