Friends Of Tim, episode 1: Richard Stepney

RICHARD STEPNEY, Owner, Fourth Floor hairdressers





I met Tim when I cut his hair. This would be around, ooh, twenty years ago, when the salon was newly established in a room under Comme des Garcons in Mayfair. He was talking then about finding somewhere to set up his own business, and I happened to know a guy who had a Huguenot house in Spitalfields, and a few months later Tim was up and running in Princelet Street. That's why we've always had this idea that we started out at the same time, and we've talked vaguely ever since about possibly sharing premises at some point, and sharing clients, etc, though there's always been a lot of cross-pollination, because we share a similar sensibility – I don't believe in imposing house styles on people, and want clients to feel relaxed, while being actively involved in the process – and a similar clientele, from the arts and media, as well as bankers and lawyers. I think people like the off-piste aspect of both businesses – that we're in an old industrial building on the edge of Clerkenwell, and you come up to the salon in the old goods lift, while Tim is out in Spitalfields rather than Savile Row. It helps differentiate what we're about, and makes the process a little different, without being intimidating. We also share this attitude that we'd rather have people find us, or be led to us, rather than employ any kind of hard-sell. In my case, it was a reaction to the hoo-hah that generally accompanies the hairdressing trade. I wanted – and continue to want – minimum hoo-hah. And I imagine Tim feels the same. We both employed a DIY aesthetic when we set up, just kind of following our noses, and we continue to follow it today. I launched a product line, not because I wanted to make millions – and it certainly hasn't worked out that way, in any case – but because I couldn't find the perfect products to treat clients' hair with, plus it was a way to kind of repay their faith in Fourth Floor. You see a similar thing going on with Tim's collaborations, whether they're mass market or niche – he's doing things that arise out of his own interest and curiosity rather than any financial imperative.





I'm wearing a pair of Tim's jeans today. I've got two suits, I think – I'm not really a suit person – and he's made me several pairs of trousers. It's all done on a barter system, clothes for haircuts – no vulgar monetary transactions. It's good that I actually like what he does, and vice versa – we'd be in a spot of bother otherwise. I actually ended up with a pair of the tweed cycling trousers he did in collaboration with Rapha. I really like them, but they're far too good to wear on my bike.