Madame Martin

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

1. 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...
2. Louis Napolitan: Six Thousand Years of Hair Styling, Polygraphic Company of America, 1939
3. Louis Napolitan: Six Thousand Years of Hair Styling, Polygraphic Company of America, 1939
4. Gisèle d'. Assailly: Ages of Elegance: Five Thousand Years of Fashion and Frivolity, Hachette, 1968
5. Wendy Cooper: Hair: sex, society, symbolism, Aldus, 1971
6. Louis Napolitan: Six Thousand Years of Hair Styling, Polygraphic Company of America, 1939
7. Mary Trasko: Daring Do's: A History of Extraordinary Hair, Random House Incorporated, 1994