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Photo by Sarah Walor
COMMEMORATIVE STITCHES. An arts-and-crafts fabric piece by the living room fireplace details the journey of a slave family.
LIBRARY OF DESIGN. Books on fashion, photography and old Hollywood cover the living room table.
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Photo by Sarah Walor
SHE’S NO ANGEL. Langstonjokingly refers to his Mexican angel, which he commissioned as a Christmas tree topper, as actress Sofia Vergara. With hoop earrings and ample cleavage, she holds a book that says “Sing Along With Ken.”
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Photo by Sarah Walor
MEXICAN HOLIDAY. An expansive Day of the Dead memorabilia collection is dispersed throughout Langston’s house, filling his mantel and other places of honor.
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Photo by Sarah Walor
HIDDEN TREASURE. Langston’s mother struck brass when she purchased a $5 box of junk at a yard sale. At the bottom was a vintage Tiffany letter holder.
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Photo by Sarah Walor
MARQUEE DÉCOR. Langston owns threemassive movie posters from New York’sChisholm Gallery – Spanish-languageversions of Elvis Presley’s Flaming Star and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and an Italian poster for Liz Taylor’s Giant.
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Photo by Sarah Walor
BARBIE BATHROOM. A pink half-bath holds dozens of Barbie and Midge dolls, clothes, accessories, books and art. Langston says he became obsessed with the classic Mattel toys as a 5-year-old boy.
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Photo by Sarah Walor
CORPORATE MOMMIE. A mild obsession with Joan Crawford’s wicked mother persona prompted friends to purchase and frame a sheet of paper from the star’s days as a member of the board of directors of Pepsi-Cola.
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Photo by Sarah Walor
CHANGING ITS STRIPES. A chest that once bore a zebra paint pattern was refinished and covered in paper mosaic designs by Langston’s friend Tom McKee. The front drawers are decorated with the severed head of Medusa.
If you’re ever fortunate enough to be invited to one of Ken Langston’s Halloween parties, run — don’t walk — to his Spanish Colonial Revival house on North Boulevard. The longtime Richmond window dresser and hairstylist isn’t known for doing things halfway, and holidays are particularly over-the-top.
“For one Halloween, I covered all of my furniture in white sheets,” he recalls, his blue eyes dancing. “I had gauze draped everywhere. There were purple, pink and green bulbs in every light in the house, candles all over the place — even rubber rats coming down the stairs.” That may or may not have been one of the years he dressed as his obsession — Mommie Dearest main character Joan Crawford.
A graduate of VCU's School of the Arts, Langston has left his artistic imprint throughout the city. After working in visual merchandising for three years at the staid Miller and Rhoads, he left to craft more flamboyant fashion displays for the late, great Pink in Carytown, where he once did a Marie Antoinette-themed window. “A friend said, ‘If you can style real heads like you can with mannequin wigs, you should [become] a hairdresser.’”
And so he did. Langston built a loyal hair and makeup clientele at the former Austin’s Salon for 22 years before opening JAK Salon on Robinson two years ago. When he isn’t working, he’s attempting to downsize the contents of his 1924 house, which is filled with artfully arranged collections of books, paintings, Mexican holiday souvenirs and vintage Barbie dolls. And if he ever has a yard sale, run — don’t walk …
