NEW YORK — Marc Pipino, whose 57th Street salon here helped inaugurate the practice of editorial stylists working with salon clients, died Thursday of AIDS-related leukemia, said his brother, hairstylist Ric Pipino. He was 54.
“It was a new thing happening in the beauty and fashion world,” said Ric Pipino, who added that before the late-Seventies, editorial stylists worked almost exclusively on a freelance basis in the magazine world, while salon stylists were dedicated to the salons where they worked. “It was a unique point of the fashion world, combining [these] two things.”
Marc Pipino, an Australian, got his start at a small beauty salon called Sylvia Blakes in the Sydney suburbs. From there, he went to London to study under Vidal Sassoon during the latter stylist’s heyday. Marc Pipino became an assistant at Sassoon and worked his way up to become stylist and eventually creative director of Vidal Sassoon. He arrived in the U.S. in 1972, opening a Vidal Sassoon location in New York. He stayed on board with Sassoon in order to lead Sassoon’s New York-based team.
“He was one of the big hairdressers to come out of Vidal Sassoon,” Ric Pipino said. “He was at Vidal Sassoon at the prime time of what Vidal was.”
Marc Pipino decided to go into business for himself in the late Seventies and opened a salon with Richard Buccheri, a colleague from Vidal Sassoon. The two opened shop at 12 East 57th Street, and then moved to a location at 57th Street and Madison Avenue, where they operated Pipino Buccheri Salon for 15 years.
“It opened a door to a lot of editorial hairstylists,” Ric Pipino said. “It was one of the hottest salons in New York at the time. It allowed people to be creative and have a home to showcase work on clients as well.”
Marc Pipino, who was diagnosed with AIDS in the Eighties, launched a charity called Hair Cares to support those with the disease. The charity assisted stylists with the disease with medicines and other health care needs.
In addition to his brother Ric, Marc Pipino is survived by brothers Ted, Jim and Leo. A memorial service is planned for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at St. Francis Xavier Church, 30 West 16th Street.