Every Sassoon collection begins with an idea or theme, and for Summer 2012, it was the Olympics and the relationship between women, sport and hair.

"This season it’s all about ease and wearability, so the first drawings for Athletica show honed and athletic models with modern streamlined or techno styling” says Mark Hayes, Sassoon international creative director. “We concentrated on clearly defined cuts and colors that work with althletic movement, are easy to care for and complement today’s demanding lifestyles.”

Hayes says the Olympics theme is perfect for Sassoon, given the 2012 summer games are being held in Sassoon’s founding city, London, and the Sassoon group’s own Olympic history. The association began in 1976, when Sassoon created a sculptural and fluid hair cut for American figure skater, Dorothy Hamill, showcasing the Sassoon cutting techniques that liberated women from high-maintenance hairstyles.

“We were also closely involved with cutting and caring for the athletes’ hair in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles,” Hayes adds. “Sassoon stylists consulted with hundreds of athletes about how to make their hairstyles work with their sports activity—hair had to be as graceful and fluid as the finely tuned body of the athlete. It had to be in peak performance, like the rest of the body.

Hayes concludes that sports styles, like any other, should combine the beauty of function with fashion, be easy to care for, and look good wet or dry.

Today, the Sassoon International Creative Team of Hayes, North American Creative Director Traci Sakosits and North American Color Director Richie Rivera introduces a new chapter to its long story of intense training and championship styling with Athletica: a collection of effortlessly sophisticated hair designs that are as fashionable as they are functional.