At 18 years old, Lobetta
began his hairdressing career at Ricci Burn's Salon on London's Kings
Road in Chelsea. After a year-and-a-half of studying, practicing and
working late, Ricci gave Lobetta the opportunity to do a cover and
editorial shoot for 19 magazine. He was then promoted to artistic
director. From there, Lobetta moved on to work at Michaeljohn in
London's Mayfair and then embarked on three salon ventures of his own.
This taught him that his work was better suited for editorial,
advertising and image creation. In 1985, he was approached by Sebastian
International and became the company's creative director for 23 years
until his recent departure.
Why He's Influential: His
ideology of beauty and unique approach to create thought-provoking
imagery are two of the reasons he influences others in his craft.
Lobetta operates intuitively without a great deal of calculation. It is
his self awareness, his insistence on visual pleasure and his
provocative manipulations performed in the name of beauty that make his
visuals some of the most creative, influential and inspirational within
the industry.
Who Influences Him: "Being able to collaborate
with diverse, even eccentric, people in unexpected ways, can prompt the
most wonderful influences," says Lobetta. "If I had to make a list of
people who influence me I would say, Rafael Nadal, Karl Lagerfeld,
Clint Eastwood, Damien Hearst, Steven Meisels, Charles Saatchi, Leonard
Cohen, Kate Moss, Amy Winehouse and David Bowie."
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