Hair supremo Sam McKnight MBE talks AW23 trends and launching a product line in his 60s. Plus, the quirky accessory you will always find in his styling kit
Words CHARLOTTE JOLLY
Sam McKnight has been in fashion for more than 45 years. Call sheets send him all over the world, working on glossy editorials and luxury campaigns. And he’s happily ensconced in that cavalcade of creatives and tastemakers rolling from one fashion capital to another, helping to create iconic catwalk looks.
Sam travels with a kit that spills into several suitcases and includes, not only knicker elastic – “you would not believe how handy it comes in for ponytails and fixing on hair accessories” – but boxes of his own brightly-hued products. “For Hair by Sam McKnight, we designed the packaging so you understand what a bottle does as soon as you see it. Sundaze, which has just launched, is bright yellow. We’ve called it a sea spray, instead of salt spray, because it’s not crunchy. It’s great for a beachy look, without having to use heated tools.”
Sam, 68, started work on his eponymous product line during lockdown. “I realised that I like being at home and in my garden. I didn’t want to go on travelling and do nothing else. It’s all about new challenges as you get older. I’ve got a great team of people at the product company, some of whom have been with me for 20-odd years. It’s like a family.”
The range is already multi award-winning and has countless celebrity fans (Bella Hadid says she “can’t live without” the Cool Girl Barely There Texture Mist). And at the end of last year, it was announced that Sam would receive an MBE. “I was in Australia on a shoot when I got the email, but I couldn’t say anything until New Year’s Eve. I know it can be a bit controversial these days, but I’m honoured to accept an accolade that, I assume, my peers nominated me for. And actually, it’s nice to get it for fashion as well as hairdressing, because sometimes the fashion industry leaves us [beauty] out.”
The investiture took place in March at Buckingham Palace. “My God, Princess Anne works hard,” Sam tells us. “There were around 70 people and I was third from the end. But she was bright as a button, really charming. And I love that she hasn’t got much of a filter, she says it how it is. Not sure about all the bowing and curtseying though.”
When asked about his career highlights, Sam says accepting his MBE was definitely one, “But it’s a long career,” he continues. “I did my first shoot in 1977, for Harper’s. I would say being around in New York at
