Resting Place

City-based hairdresser George Piazza has happily closed a chapter in his life by contributing his mother’s memorabilia to the Mortlock Library.

“I feel I can move forward now,” he says.

His mother, Josephine, a hairdressing icon in Adelaide, died 18 years ago.

Her first salon was in the Theatre Royal building in Hindley St and then she opened a space across the road. In 1972 she established a salon in Gilbert Pl. called Madame Josephines, which George still operates today.

In its heyday, the salon’s Saturday morning crowd used to have to line up down the street awaiting an appointment.

Josephine was the first woman director of IHS Australia and was a founding member of the SA Hair Fashion Council.

As well as newspaper clippings, documents and medals, George’s collection included a bust which had been made of his mother. He says he felt the collection was an important part of the state’s cultural history and was relieved that it had been preserved by the Mortlock Library.

See more via the Mortlock Libray website here

Adelaide Matters