Madame Martin (fl. 1671) was the hairdresser at the court of Louis XIV who popularised a style of elaborate tall hair.[1]
Madame Martin was married to a whig maker[2] and her profession was not as unusual in her position; however, she demonstrated true creative talent and became unusual in her success as an independent professional artist in a period when the profession of hair dressing was only just starting to emerge in France.[3]
In 1671, she became a leading artist of her time by creating hair style known as the "harum scarum", which became very popular and Marquise de Sevigne recommended to her daughter. [4] Her style was a new initiative, as she broke with the previous fashion and arranged women's hair upward instead of on the sides, signifying a new style of fashion. [5]
She invented the hair style a' la Maintenon, which was famously adopted by Madame de Maintenon.[6] She remained the leading hair dresser of the French court for several years during the late half of the 17th-century.[7]
References
edit- ^ Diana De Marly (1987), Louis XIV & Versailles,
Much to Louis XIV's relief the French hairdresser Martin was able to save the reputation of the French court ... On 4 April 1671 the Marquise de Sevigne wrote to her daughter the Comtesse de Grignan that Madame Martin was...
- ^ Louis Napolitan: Six Thousand Years of Hair Styling, Polygraphic Company of America, 1939
- ^ Louis Napolitan: Six Thousand Years of Hair Styling, Polygraphic Company of America, 1939
- ^ Gisèle d'. Assailly: Ages of Elegance: Five Thousand Years of Fashion and Frivolity, Hachette, 1968
- ^ Wendy Cooper: Hair: sex, society, symbolism, Aldus, 1971
- ^ Louis Napolitan: Six Thousand Years of Hair Styling, Polygraphic Company of America, 1939
- ^ Mary Trasko: Daring Do's: A History of Extraordinary Hair, Random House Incorporated, 1994
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