The Cuban-born stylist had traded his early ambition to be an actor for the glamorous and – at that time – closed and exclusive world of backstage and session hair styling.
Throughout the eighties and nineties he worked with the greatest fashion stars of the time, including photographer Steven Meisel, the original ‘Big Five’ supers and makeup artist Francois Nars.
He was an advocate of ‘maximalism’ – big volume hair – and his signature looks could be seen on runways and in ad campaigns for designers like Versace, Thierry Mugler, Chanel and Calvin Klein.
Oribe also ran his own salons in New York and the hero products in his luxury hair care line – Dry Texturizing Spray and Côte d’Azur Hair Refresher – have a cult-like devotion among fans.
He epitomised the kind of conventional glamour that we don’t see enough of these days.
They don’t make them like Oribe now.
