Antoine de Paris

Antoni "Antek" Cierplikowski (1884 – 1976) became the world's first celebrity hairdresser when he opened the salon Antoine de Paris in Paris and became known as Monsieur Antoine.^[1]

He was born in Sieradz and learnt hairdressing by working for his uncle in Łódź. He moved to Paris in 1901 where he worked in the salon at Galeries Lafayette. During the summer season, he worked in Deauville, following the high society of Paris who vacationed there. In 1904, he created a stylish coiffure for Lily de Moure when she lost her fashionable hat. When she appeared hatless on the arm of a royal prince, this caused a sensation and other fashionable ladies then wanted to have their hair styled by le petit rousse (the little Russian).^[2]

He started a fashion for a short bob cut in 1909 which was inspired by Joan of Arc.^[3] He then introduced the shingle cut in the 1920s which became popular with daring young women — the Bloomsbury set and flappers.^[3] In 1924, he dyed his dog's hair blue. This blue hair was taken up by the first professional interior designer, Lady Elsie De Wolfe Mendl, which started a new fad. In the 1930s, he introduced blonde highlights and a style of upswept hair.^[4]

In 1924, he opened a salon at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York which became the most fashionable hair salon in America. Other famous hairdressers established their reputations there, such as Sydney Guilaroff.^[4] The peak of Antoine's career was the coronation of George VI in 1937, when he supervised 400 coiffures in one night.

After the death of his wife in 1973 Monsieur Antoine moved to his birthplace Sieradz, where he died in July 1976.

References

1. ^ Hubert Demory (2006), Monsieur Antoine: grand maître de la haute coiffure française, l'Harmattan, ISBN 9782296015494 
2. ^ Steven Zdatny (1999), Hairstyles and fashion: a hairdresser's history of Paris, 1910-1920, http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=467EMbGsruMC&pg=PA6 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Bob haircut celebrates 100th birthday", The Daily Telegraph, 9 Jan 2009, http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG4206376/Bob-haircut-celebrates-100th-birthday.html 
4. ^ ^{a b} Victoria Sherrow (2006), Encyclopedia of hair, pp. 164–5, http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9Z6vCGbf66YC&pg=PA165 

Persondata
Name	Cierplikowski, Antek
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1884
Place of birth
Date of death	1976
Place of death