This is the story of one of the most famous hairdressers of all time and his great muse, Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, whom the great Alexandre de Paris transformed into a real Queen of Beauty!
Grace Kelly was already a world-known actress and star before she married Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956. She was 27 years old and he had seen her in a few films. Although her film career was brief she was able to win an Oscar, as a leading actress of the film ‘The Country Girl’. She had worked with Alfred Hitchcock in such legendary films as ‘Rear window’ and ‘To catch a thief’. After her wedding, she did not return to the world of cinema anymore, but her fame kept growing to unimaginable levels and she became an icon of universal beauty.
An icon that was established in Europe, Grace Kelly trusted the care of her hair and her hairpieces to the most famous hairdresser of the time in France, the legendary Alexandre de Paris. Alexandre was not only a hairdresser, but quickly became Grace’s confidant and friend. In the Museum of History of Hairdressing of Raffel Pages, we find many accounts of Grace Kelly’s pieces, incalculable value like a precious tiara that belonged to Princess Grace that Alexandre made with natural hair and brilliant rhinestone braids. An add-in hair piece which was later presented to designer Yves Saint-Laurent for his 1969 collection.
Also in the Museum of History of Hairdressing they have designs of hairstyles that are hand-drawn by Alexandre himself for his friend and muse Grace Kelly, like those who accompany this article. In addition, there is a historical copy of the magazine ‘Paris Match’ September 1976, dedicated to the great hairdressers in the 70s whose cover shows a magnificent image of Alexandre de Paris combing the Princess of Monaco in his luxurious salon in the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris; a beautiful photograph of Jean-Claude Deutsch which shows the great complicity between the hairdresser and the Princess.
Finally, one of the jewels of the private collection of the Museum of History of Hairdressing is one of the famous hairpieces Alexandre de Paris made for Grace Kelly, with her own hair, according to the hairdresser. During his long personal relationship of work and friendship, “Alexandre made the Princess of Monaco more than 300 hairpieces for ‘soirées’, anniversaries and the extraordinary galas of the Red Cross held in Monaco”, explains the own Raffel Pages, founder and director of the Museum of History of Hairdressing.
More information: www.museumraffelpages.com
