Before The Beatles became the biggest band in the world, changing the course of popular music, they spent some time refining their craft in Hamburg. The band found a manager in the form of Allan Williams, who drove them across to Germany, where they performed in various clubs in what was a crash course in how to play live.
In Hamburg, the band were able to gain vital experience as a live act, meeting other musicians and creatives that shaped their sound and style. Their journey to Hamburg wasn’t easy, however, as Williams failed to secure work permits for the young lads until they reached Germany, which meant they were temporarily detained.
Once they reached their destination, they played at venues such as the Indra Club and the Kaiserkeller, building valuable skills they would carry with them for the rest of their careers. However, the band’s trip to Germany was also vital due to the effect it had on their style. As well as being musical innovators, The Beatles were style icons, inspiring the development of youth fashions, from their penchant for leather jackets to their matching Cardin suits.
However, their most notable style contribution from this early period was their matching mop-top haircuts, which became synonymous with the band. During their time in Hamburg, the band met Astrid Kirchherr, an art student who shortly began dating Stuart Sutcliffe. Kirchherr became obsessed with The Beatles after hearing them play, recalling, “It was like a merry-go-round in my head, they looked absolutely astonishing… My whole life changed in a couple of minutes. All I wanted was to be with them and to know them.”
Luckily, Kirchherr’s desire to “be with them” was granted, and she became close friends with the band, becoming engaged to Sutcliffe in November 1960. Naturally, the more time the band spent around Kirchherr and her European friends, the more they were exposed to new styles which were not popular in England. Thus, it wasn’t long before Sutcliffe decided to get a new hairdo inspired by the people he associated with in Germany.
Kirchherr recalled to BBC Radio Merseyside, “All my friends in art school used to run around with this sort of what you call Beatles haircut. And my boyfriend then, Klaus Voormann, had this hairstyle, and Stuart liked it very, very much. He was the first one who really got the nerve to get the Brylcreem out of his hair and asking me to cut his hair for him.”
Soon after, the rest of the band followed, with Kirchherr also cutting George Harrison’s hair herself. Thus, the iconic Beatles mop top look was born, becoming instantly recognisable across the world.
