Tuttii Fruittii: meet the clown hairdressers creating colourful chaos at London's most fun salon

They’re bright and bold and impossible to miss. Richard Gray heads to Deptford’s Tuttii Fruittii to meet the experimental hairstylist clowns playing by their own rules
Shears of a clown: Tuttii Fruittii, left, and Toni Tits
Danny Woodstock
Richard Gray9 May 2019

‘We’re clown therapists,’ says Tuttii Fruittii.

‘And hairdressers!’ adds Toni Tits. ‘Clown hairdressers and, yeah, we’re therapists as well.’ Meet Tuttii and Toni, owners of the capital’s coolest, most influential and, most importantly, fun hair salon. And yes, they’re also part-time clowns. You may have seen them dressed up in the Deptford branch of Iceland.

This brightly dressed duo are the hard-to-miss co-founders of Tuttii Fruittii London. Walk past the thrice-weekly bric-a-brac market, just off Deptford High Street, and you’ll see clients from around the world flocking to the salon on Douglas Way, fuelled by its buzzing Instagram feed.

A mix of video and engaging photography, @tuttiifruittiilondon celebrates the pair’s unique and fun-loving, crazy-coloured hair — and it’s caught the eye of some serious major league hairdressers. ‘My hat goes off to these guys,’ says British hair stylist Anthony Turner, whose work has appeared in American Vogue and on the catwalks of Loewe and Saint Laurent. ‘They have my absolute respect.’

Tutti Fruitti salon in Deptford
Danny Woodstock

Tuttii Fruittii has become a focal point for fans who want to be part of their ‘non-binary hair world’. One that mixes shaved bits with long bits and seriously standout Technicolor braids that are more like engineering. It’s these two, and the creative energy coming out of Deptford, that is helping turn up the noise in hair and beauty in the capital.

But why hairdressing clowns? ‘The main thing is the style,’ says Tuttii of their delicious outfits and make-up looks. ‘I love the way clowns are dressed, and have dressed up in clown clothes since I was a child. Also, we love to express ourselves with our make-up in a totally different way.’ As well as being at the heart of the capital’s hottest new cuts, the two perform on-stage in their own clown comedy sketches, at festivals, in clubs and art spaces, even at the Barbican. ‘Everything we do is clown,’ adds Toni. ‘We are clowns!’

‘Clowning’ is a way of life and a creative narrative for the pair and the salon. It’s the prism through which they shine their many ideas to see what rainbow of possibilities will come out the other end. ‘In every civilization and every society there is a form of clown,’ says Tuttii. ‘That person is the one who’s there to break all the rules, the one who turns things upside down and makes you think about what you’re doing and how you’re living.’

And the name Tuttii Fruittii? A friend spotted Tuttii at a festival wearing a mad mix of African prints and colourful headscarves, looking much like the sweet shop staple. The name stuck. Their fans and clients leave a riot of multicoloured Tuttii Fruittii love hearts and emojis on the salon’s Instagram feed. Unicorns, lollipops, butterflies, dolphins and, of course, clown faces decorate the comments box of anything from the latest picture of a ‘Foxy Sunsets’ orange bob to a multicoloured and brand new cropped look called ‘ArtÅTTĀK’.

The house rules at Tutti Fruitti
Danny Woodstock

Inside, the salon is as bright and bold as the styles the pair create. This is Toni’s special remit: with the help of friends and artists, they have created a very specific salon look. Here, the walls vibrate with colour and a huge, beautiful mural covers one side of the salon. There are paintings of clowns and mirrored pictures (more clowns) and a checked wall harks back to the costumes of Harlequin (the Italian clown). A chalk board announces the strict house-rules and a ‘pay what you can afford’ pricing system opens up the salon to those who can’t normally afford a visit. No judgement. No elitism. Simple.

‘We’re about inspiring people and opening up their minds in a really positive way,’ says Toni, ‘bringing out the best in people and showing them that you don’t have to live in a box or follow society.’ The pair talk of the salon’s ‘transformative’ effect, where customers learn to express themselves with Tuttii and Toni’s help, and feel proud of their radical new cuts, holding themselves in a different way when they leave the shop. ‘You can be you and that’s okay,’ adds Toni. ‘Don’t worry about what anybody else thinks.’

‘Deptford has been a very special creative place for years,’ says Toni. ‘The squat scene now and a big rave scene in the Nineties.’ When the opportunity to bag a former barber shop on the main shopping strip arose, the pair jumped at it and set about creating an ‘art-filled haircut and clown-club’. It soon became a place for discourse about queer politics, the Extinction Rebellion movement and, of course, gentrification.

At the risk of sounding like an estate agent, is Deptford the new Hackney? The two roll their eyes: both have joined with locals to fight against developers. ‘Every area is being gentrified now,’ says Tuttii. ‘We had community gardens and a hub for artists here but, unfortunately, slowly, they are all disappearing.’

The usual footwear at the salon
Danny Woodstock

The pair have been part of the local creative scene for more than 10 years. Tuttii started cutting hair in a second-hand caravan bought for £200, which was rebuilt, painted in super-bright colours (obviously) and parked in the old Tidemill schoolyard, then an art space for the community. ‘They’re turning the old school into flats now,’ says Tuttii.

But the salon is a sparkle of pre-gentrification individuality, offering non-binary and binary people a place to visually experiment with the idea of themselves. ‘A non-binary salon means it’s a comfortable space for everybody,’ says Tuttii. ‘People who experience oppression due to their race, gender, sexuality and bodies can find it unsettling and unsafe walking into certain salons,’ adds Toni. ‘In here, it’s very casual, relaxed and it’s real.’

“We’re about bringing out the best in people, showing them they don’t have to live in a box” 

Toni Tits

‘The best salons have always allowed a safe space for clients to experiment,’ says hair stylist Adam Reed about the politics-meets-creativity buzz the salon is nurturing. ‘These are the best salons: the ones that have always pushed boundaries in hair and politics.’

Many of the boundary-pushing looks pick up where punk left off. There’s a touch of The Slits and Riot Grrrl about the candy-pink, up-yours aesthetic. But mostly the creativity seems to coalesce around the politics of Greenham Common with something like the flamboyance of Sigue Sigue Sputnik. It speaks to a time of anger and expression, at both the national and local level, when hair became a form of protest and identity politics. Perhaps this is more urgent now than ever.

Find Tuttii Fruittii here.

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