James Lebon

James Lebon (3 May 1959 – 22 December 2008) was a British film and music video director who taught fashion photography at London College of Fashion. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as a hairdresser. His father was Philip Lebon, a plastic surgeon in West-End.[1] Lebon went to the Michael Hall Steiner Waldorf School, and when he decided to become an accountant it was a surprise for everybody. In 1980, after attending the Vidal Sassoon’s Academy, he set up Cuts his first hairdressing salon. Lebon became known for vogue-style hairdressing for the boys and girls. As time passed Cuts becameThese Are Cuts and moved to Kensington Church Street, where David Bowie was one of his customer. Magazines such as The Face,i-D, Harpers & Queen featured Lebon in their articles. It is known that he made the session for Buffalo fashion collective of the stylist Ray H Petri.[1] He opened the Language Lab in London club, a hiphop club where the rapping debut was made by a young Neneh Cherry. After a while he decided to concentrate on one career and he enrolled at film school at New York University. There he made the videos for Bomb The Bass, D-Ream and Curiosity Killed the Cat. Lebon made his first short films with Ewan McGregor and Penélope Cruz who was the beginner at that time. It was in the USA when he met Shawn Stussy who was designing his skate clothing brand at the time. It was Lebon who brought Stussy label to London.[1] In his last years Lebon worked as a graphic designer, mainly for the "Stussy" brand, and he lectured on fashion photography and IT at the London School of Fashion.