Antoni Cierplikowski
AUDACIOUS CONVENANCE BREAKER, UNCOMPROMISING TREND DICTATOR, CREATOR OF TIMELESS CLASSICS AND PRECURSOR OF THE FRENCH HAUTE COIFFEUR
”Postwar stars were named Chanel, Cocteau, Antoine, Picasso (…)”
- Maurice Sachs
Grand hotel, Cracow 1937 (Marta Orzeszyna’s archive)
After over 70 years of a global career, Antoine returned to his hometown of Sieradz.
Grim 70s reality of the town under communism was deceptively similar to how gloomy it was under the Russian rule when he left for Paris in 1901. Antoine settled in a plain house on Wierzbowa street filling the space with spectacular artefacts from his impressive career. While there was no bathroom in the house, there was a piano, substantial art collection including likes of Dali, Modigliani, glamorous wigs which once upon a time used to crown heads of most famous celebrities..
He would spend days on chopping wood and harvesting vegetables in the back garden, strolling around the town reciting Shakespeare. As far it was from splendours of his parisian life, he genuinely enjoyed a shift to slow life surrounded with peace and nature. Even at this point he maintained his dignity and elegance, cladded in finest clothes and costumes for every day. To the people of Sieradz he was an enigma, peculiar old man surrounded by myths and gossips. Some perhaps considered him a bit crazy while others lived unaware of how special he really was.
This hasn’t changed much to this day. While his students such as Alexandre de Paris are widely known internationally, Antoine’s contribution to contemporary hairdressing is rather silenced. In fact, it is safe to say that he contributed to the creative industry as much as Marie Curie did for the science. Behind the extravagance and peculiar habits that he’s mainly remembered by, there was a skilled hand and level of creativity that only a few individuals in fashion history have had. He had a unique ability to both understand and define the desires of women. Antoine’s work has not only built the fundamental of contemporary hairdressing but helped many significant actresses and public figures establish their long lived visual identity with unforgettable styles and coiffeurs.
Beginnings
Christmas Eve 1884. Antoni was born to Joanna and Antoni a seamstress and a cobbler. It was a modest and hardworking family. Among their five children Antoni very early on was showing sparkles of particular talent and creativity. Mother noting his creative flair encouraged and supported him to pursue an artistic career direction. He often recalled that she gave him a sense of safety he could find in his later life no more.
Antoine moved to Lodz to practice at his uncle Paweł Lewandowski’s hair saloon. Uncle’s weakness to alcohol, appeared to offer him a lucky chance. Uncle was often absent from the saloon so young Antoni was allowed to cut hair of the more prominent clients. One of them astonished with the result wished him a great future success planting him a seed of an idea to move to Paris.
Soon lack of inspiration, competition and looming risk of conscription to Russian army prompted him to make a decision to emigrate. It was not a fertile ground for Antoine’s individuality, ambition and he felt rising discrimination in regards to his homosexuality.
It was 1901 when after long journey 17 years old Antoni arrived at Gare du Nord. Alone in a big city and initially overwhelmed he was sure of the two things: his talent and determination to prove that his move was worthwhile.
Paris though was not spoiling him at all in the very start. Three years of weaving wigs in the basement of Parisian renowned saloon Decoux tamed his ego and taught him persistence.
On St Katherine’s day in 1903 saloon got extremely busy. It was though a tradition for unmarried woman to pamper themselves on that specific day for festive balls and gatherings. Antoine got a call to help on the floor. His skill finally saw a daylight and left clients astonished. From a junior apprentice he became a popular member of staff called by the name “Petite Russe”.
“Petit Russe" turns Antoine de Paris
Antoine was good at making the most out of lucky chances, such as the St Katherine’s day.
Another one happened on a trip to a fashionable seaside resort Trouville. He got to serve Lily de Moure a lover of Belgian prince de Ligne. Lady’s dramatic discovery on loosing her evening hat, left her devastated. To save the lady from a grand social faux pas, Antoine promptly came up with unorthodox solution.
His credo was balance and harmony. Overpowering an outfit with a hat was considered by him the very opposite of balance. With this in mind, Antoine served de Moure his own take on a hat. He turned her locks into ornaments and sculpted her hair into a golden coiffeur. Astonishing result amazed prince de Ligne and sparked sensation at the ball.
Gold and silver wig - hats soon evolved into a trend particularly loved by surrealist artists, often worn by Elsa Schiaparelli, photographed by Man Ray and featured in surrealist “Minotaure” magazine.
Antoine’s approach to hairdressing was revolutionary, he had no interest in repeating dated, fossilised techniques. Each of his ideas was unique, created in consideration of client’s head shape, personality and attitude. Drawing from his curiosity in various art disciplines he treated hair as any other creative medium. He dared to employ techniques borrowed from Ancient Greek sculpture, canvases of Velazquez or architecture to try and push the boundaries of what was already known as the art of hairdressing.
“Each client’s hair is the clay which I shape in tune with her individuality. I consider the coiffure as a constructive architecture. Why should two coiffures be alike, when there are no two faces identical ? I look at the subject. And then I follow the dictates of harmony, keeping to small proportions, of course.”
- Monsieur Antoine
It was in Troville where his career started to really pickup and where he began to establish ties with influential international elites. Honest, charming young man with an unapologetic wit and confidence quickly became respectable in elite circles. Elevating hairdressing to the artist’s level he was not anymore just serving the elites but became one of them. Inviting him to the ball in Sankt Moritz was a shock to many and was the herald of significant societal changes.
Resort of Trouville was also were he met a manicurist - Marie Berthe. While he enjoyed the company of his demanding, prominent clientele it was with Marie when he could feel comfortably himself. She would listen for hours on his plans and ambitions with a patience worth of his mother. The two eventually got married in London though they were more like soulmates than lovers. Marie was putting a blind eye on Antoine’s relationships with men, accepting a role of a business partner and later acting as a “financial CEO” of his beauty empire. With entrepreneurial know-how and thorough understanding of his ambitions, she turned his artistic vision into a multibillion dollar fortune managing it for over 60 years.
Rue Cambon
Antoine’s challenge to rejuvenate famous Eva Lavaliere for her role of a young girl in a theatre play was a milestone for his career. In 1909 the iconic “a la garcons” was born. Hard to imagine how controversial move it was at the time. Short hair was looked at very critically, it would affect women loosing jobs, while Japan even had a special law against bobbing for women.
A la garçons as many other of his brainchildren was created thinking many years hence. First seen as a major breach of custom it eventually evolved into a cult trend among most stylish celebrities. This statement haircut to this day is associated with a symbol of emancipation of women.
While a la garçons was gaining cult popularity so was Antoine’s name. In 1912 he opened his first saloon in prestigious Rue Cambon. The location was specially picked to be accessible for wealthy customers, stone thrown from rue de Rivoli, place Vendome and neighbouring with Gabrielle Chanel’s hat shop.
It soon became a key destination for elites. Modern saloon promoted Antoine’s vision of a modern woman’s lifestyle and offered complex take on beauty services. Its offering covered top to toe treatments from hairstyling, facials, manicure to a trendy cocktail with discreet gossip. Hair washing was mandatory with each service and Rue Cambon 5 was a very first place in Europe to use an electric hair dryer.
Designed by his friend and long time collaborator Sara Lipska the place was initially kept in a boudoir style later evolving into more sleek and minimalistic aesthetic. Walls were tempting with selection of art pieces on sale from up and coming painters supported by Antoine. Up and coming meant likes of Picasso or Modigliani at that time…
Once saloon became a hit Marie Berthe was already looking for new possibilities to expand the business investing in cosmetics factory and beauty school. Early twenties brought a new add to the brand - cosmetics line Produits de beauté Antoine. While tanned skin was back in fashion, Orange Gelee was a very first fake tan allowing women to get evenly sun kissed without harmful sun exposure.
Soon after that came hairspray and finally enabled to preserve the most otherworldly coiffeurs and wigs. First one to try it was a polish opera singer Ganna Walska.
All beauty product’s branding was designed by Sara Lipska. Sophisticated colour combination of black-white-gold, with occasional pops of colour was to correspond with the style of saloons interiors.
Rue de Cambon saloon was just the foretaste of what was yet to come. In 1927 Antoine’s fame reached the United States. From the first branch at the Saks Fifth Avenue Cierplikowski subsequently grew there a successful network of over 120 saloons. Working for production houses like Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer he got to create some best remembered Hollywood hairstyles for Greta Garbo, Pola Negri, Bette Davis or Sara Bernhardt.
While his time in United States brought him a lot of opportunities and significantly grew his fortune he greatly missed style of his European clients and harmonious surroundings of Paris.
“He likes ''harmonious'' surroundings, and when harmony is lacking, he erupts. On a visit ·to his Dallas saloon several years ago, he was escorted to his hotel suite.
''I could never live in this red plush Victorian horror,'' he snorted, and stalked out of the hotel to a nearby park where he bought a cake and started feeding it to the pigeons (…)
Antoine finally settled for a bare room used by salesmen to display samples”
- J.D.Ratcliff in the article “Antoine de Paris : The hairdo King” 1955
Muses: From “fallen women” to crowned heads
“My professor was world and people” - Antoine
Antoine hasn’t been particularly good at being told what to do so he had no formal training. However, he carefully observed the world and learnt from fellow artists and creative luminaries of the time inspiring them and getting inspired.
In his saloons one could observe an interesting mix of women of all backgrounds and statuses. There were courtesans, actresses back then known as “fallen women”, crowned heads. Regulars included Harper’s Bazaar’s Daisy Fellowees, queen of extravagance Cécile Sorel, Moulin Rouge star Mistinguett, surrealist fashion pioneer Elsa Schiaparelli, Eleanor Roosevelt, Gala Dali… The list could go on and on.
“Antoine made me some fabulous wigs for evening and even pour le sport. I wore them in white, in silver, in red for the snow of St. Moritz, and would feel utterly unconscious of the stir they created. Antoine was…certainly the most progressive and the most enterprising coiffeur of these times. I wore these wigs with the plainest of dresses so that they became a part of the dress and not an oddity.”
- Elsa Schiaparelli
Among Antoine’s favourite muses was Wallis Simpson. Antoine developed her signature parting, which she maintained throughout her life.
Her perfect hair secret was “3 egg yolks and jigger of rum”- Antoine’s specially devised shampoo based on the old polish peasant recipe. Rumour has it her lover Edward VIII had been a client of the saloon too, surprisingly trying a trendy vogue of eyelash extensions.
In 1937 he got hired to supervise the team of hairdressers styling over 400 women for George VI coronation and later repeated the work for Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953. Moreover, Diana’s hairdresser Richard Dalton was an apprentice at his London branch on 38 Dover Street .
One of the most exciting collaborators was unquestionably Josephine Baker. She chose to only wear wigs made by Antoine and popularised the sleek Eton crop. Fascinated by his skill and bold personality she wrote an article on his mastership. It was an exalt ode where Baker compared him to a great wizard with a power to discover the truest charms from a woman.
When Elsie Mendl, America’s first interior designer shared with Antoine her anxieties on greying hair, he came up with a timeless treatment - the blue rinse. Antoine’s white borzoi wolfhound was the first in history to try it. Dog became such a public sensation that it got quickly translated into a saloon service popular to this day.
Antoine’s residences
Glass House inauguration party, 1931 ( Marta Orzeszyna’s archive)
Antoine’s fortune counted several residences but two were particularly special.
Apartment at Rue Saint-Didier, an interior design masterpiece by Sara Lipska was a delight to the eye. Glass lavishly applied from the floor to the ceiling offered spectacular light reflections. Church organs in the living room or crystal coffin shaped bed were a quintessence of Antoine’s extravagant taste. Apartment acted foremost as a showroom space where he organised exhibitions, art installations and social gatherings for Parisian artistic Boheme.
The extravagance of the second one, a tenement house by avenue Paul Doumer 1 was less straight forward. Here the the luxury lied in functionality with innovations applied such as heated floors or flower pots with automatic watering system. As a fine example of 30s architecture it impresses architects to this day and is protected by the French National Heritage Programme.
While interiors of the residences were a brilliant showcase of Sara Lipska’s talent, her partner and Antoine’s closest friend Xavery Dunikowski commissioned tremendous amount of sculptures and paintings complimenting it. As his patron supporting him financially for many years, Antoine was in awe of his work comparing him to polish Rodin.
Antoine with a sculpture by Xavery Dunikowski (Marta Orzeszyna’s archive)
Philanthropy has always played a big role for Antoine. Having received support along the way he wanted to give it back. Helping fellow polish artists was perhaps a way for him to reconnect with his polish identity, longing for the culture which he had very deeply in his heart despite leaving his homeland as a teenage boy.
Under sudden flows of nostalgia he would get on his private jet and fly to Poland just to poetically drop down the lilies over his hometown. Between 1965-70 he got to often visit Poland contributing to exhibitions, theatre plays and adding prestige to cultural events. After Dunikowski’s death he ensured that sculptor's legacy gets well remembered gifting his own commissions of his work to National Museum in Warsaw.
Eventually he decided to leave Paris and spend his autumn years of life in hometown of Sieradz continuously planning on major artistic initiatives there. However, he soon had to realise that life in 70s Poland behind the Iron Curtain was very different to 70s Paris and ambitious plans remained only dreams.
Marie Berthe passed away and Antoine left without her advice made several bad decisions and eventually lost his entire fortune.
His Parisian acquaintances visited Sieradz a couple of times, he gave a few interviews and starred in a mini documentary but could already feel that his fame is irrevocably fading.
His last project was a staging of his own funeral. It was to ensure that Alexandre de Paris who kindly promised him a ceremony in Paris organises it properly. Mourners in white, parade of wigs marching to the rhythm of dramatic, specially composed music, all filmed as a mock funeral. His life was filled with extravagance so this project did not even seem odd anymore..
Unfortunately, death came suddenly on the 5th of July 1976 and Antoine got buried in Sieradz with a traditional funeral. Obligated to keep the promise at least in a symbolic way, Alexandre organised a commemorative gala in Palais de Congres in 1977 and later imported his right hand to Paris burying it at Passy cemetery in 1992.
After all the years, Antoine doesn’t cease to delight and inspire artists and designers.
Despite many of his works disappeared mysteriously like his fortune a lot survived to this day. Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź has abundant collection of clothes, drawings, photographs and other artefacts credited to him while National Museum in Warsaw is in a possession of a rich art collection once gifted to the Museum by Antoine himself.
In 2006 the first exhibition on Antoine called “Haidresser in a Coffin” hosted by the Xawery Dunikowski Museum of Sculpture in Warsaw took place celebrating his figure as both genius creator as well as art connoiseur and collector.
Since 2009 the town of Sieradz is a host to a yearly event "Open Hair Festival" gathering the most talented of both established and emerging international hair stylists.
Moreover, recently in 2019 The Grand Theatre - National Opera in Warsaw hosted an exhibition “Antoine. Devoted to beauty ” focusing on his tremendous creative input in theatre and cinema projects.
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With thanks to Marta Orzeszyna for sharing her image archive and insightful information for this article.
For polish speaking readers: Check out her recent book “Antoine de Paris: Polish genius of world hairdressing.” putting a spotlight on little known facts from his splendorous career and personal life. More info here.