• Mud Honey

  7 Bond Street, 212-228-8128; 148 Sullivan Street, 212-533-1160

  Best for Rockers Everyone looking for the type of ironic ’do (a mullet, a Diane Ladd) that lends instant credibility onstage at Luxx comes to Mud Honey and asks for Alicia Trani on Sullivan Street or Clara Purvis on Bond. Indie bands like Ted Leo & the Pharmacists get styled here, and Winona Ryder—the goddess of choice for indie-rock boys—is rumored to stop by when she’s in town. (Haircuts from $65; single-process color from $75; highlights from $85.)
  
  

  Kenneth Salon

  The Waldorf-Astoria, 301 Park Avenue, near 50th Street, 212-752-1800

  Best for Junior Socialites Kevin Lee, the new creative director of the Kenneth Salon, has a client list that reads like a benefit committee: Aerin Lauder, Marina Rust, Lauren duPont. It’s no wonder. His specialty is the long-but-clean cuts that look wonderful with ball gowns. And when a little Locust Valley–style lightening is required, Kenneth’s four discreet colorists are on call. (Haircuts from $95; single-process color from $90; highlights from $195.)
  
  

  John Frieda Salon

  797 Madison Avenue, near 77th Street, 212-879-1000; 30 East 76th Street, Second floor, 212-327-2400

  Best for Drama Queens Actresses and models, who always need something new, trust colorist Sharon Dorram, who tints the tresses of chameleons like Renée Zellweger and Linda Evangelista. Dorram works out of John Frieda’s salon, which is so Zen that clients need not feel homesick for L.A. Abell Oujaddou and Tim Lehman handle the equally transformative cuts. (Haircuts from $200; single-process color from $175; highlights from $375.)
  
  

  Tosler Davis

  89 Fifth Avenue, near 16th Street, Tenth floor, 212-229-0100

  Best for Art Stars If you’ve ever wondered how art-world goddesses like Cecily Brown and Jessica Craig-Martin achieve such flawlessly nonchalant hair—the type that looks effortless but, in truth, is born of great skill—the answer is the Flatiron-based duo of Sean Davis (color) and Alan Tosler (cuts), whose four-year-old salon is filled with work by their creative clientele. (Haircuts from $85 to $100; single-process color is $85; highlights from $150.)
  
  

  Oscar Blandi

  The Plaza Hotel, 768 Fifth Avenue, at 59th Street, 212-593-7930

  Best for Lunching Ladies Getting a haircut at Oscar Blandi is much like staying in the hotel that houses it: a gilded, luxurious affair. So it’s no wonder that uptown ladies—Cornelia Guest, etc.—trust the handsome Italian, who is not afraid of a proper ’do, with their coiffures. His star colorist, Kyle White, does an incredible blonde. Which, unsurprisingly, is the most regularly requested color. (Haircuts from $125 to $300; color from $100 to $400.)

From the 2003 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine