KENNETH BATTELLE DEAD AT 86 - MAY HE REST IN PEACE

Kenneth Battelle better known as "Kenneth" or "Mr.Kenneth" (which he did not prefer) was a hairstylist of the grand design along with Alexandre of Paris and Vidal Sassoon of London. In 1961, Vogue magazine said that “almost every famous female head in the world has gone or will go” to Kenneth, the hairdresser who created Jacqueline Kennedy’s legendary bouffant and softened the golden locks of Marilyn Monroe.

Kenneth was the hairstyling darling of the society set of New York at his beautiful townhouse salon on West 54 Street, just off Fifth Avenue. He was often called the first American celebrity hairdresser, and had a list of clients to prove it — Brooke Astor, Lee Radziwill, Katharine Graham, Rosalynn Carter, Judy Garland, Audrey Hepburn, and Lucille Ball among them. In 1961, Mr. Battelle became the first and only hairdresser to receive the Coty American Fashion Critics’ Award, given from 1943 to 1984.
 
Mr. Battelle died at 86 on Sunday, May 12  2013, at his home in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., two years after he cut his last head of hair. Victoria Meekins, vice president of Mr. Battelle’s company, K.E.B. Associates, announced the death.

Some years ago, I did makeup for Joan Rivers several times, in her hotel suite, before she moved into her apartment here in NYC. Waiting in the room to style Joan's hair was Kenneth. A simple but elegant man who would also chaperone Joan Rivers to parties and events. He was always very polite to me, and I was excited to meet THE Kenneth of hairstyling history.