Not far-fetched

Wash, cut, set: A Paris museum tells the ultimate cultural history of the hairstyle. Mademoiselle Lili now knows where the frog has the curls.

The Musée des Arts décoratifs, or MAD for short, never ceases to amaze me with exhibitions that are as enjoyable as they are instructive: Whether it's underwear trends, shoe fashion, the essence of luxury or clothing codes. From the small objects, companions and vanities of our everyday life, the curators know how to span the very large cultural-historical arc and to explain what is actually behind them. The new exhibition "Des cheveux et des poils" uses more than 600 objects from the 15th century to the present day to tell what the fashions of head and body hair are all about.

Anyone who has ever wondered why the courtly man always wore flowing curly wigs from 1630 to the end of the 18th century and why judges and lawyers in England still do it, will find the quite banal answer here: France's Sun King Louis XIV was young to the bald head. To cover up the head of state's baldness, he began wearing human hair wigs, and in order not to look ridiculous, he forced the fashion on the rest of his court as well. A feint that the English kings, who were plagued by baldness, also copied and that is still part of the legal regalia in British courts today, albeit made of horsehair.

The concept of the star hairdresser is also much older than I would have thought. Even Marie-Antoinette had one: Léonard Autier. As an eccentric theater hairdresser, he attracted attention in Paris. The queen appointed him the official court hairdresser and equipped him with his own hairdressing academy and fashion magazine: his towering wigs, the so-called poufs, which were up to one meter high and weighed five kilograms, were the latest craze of the 18th century – until the guillotine came along. Only in the 1960s did the look celebrate its resurgence with lots of hairspray and backcombing as a beehive hairstyle.

The next historical VIP Figaro was the Pole Monsieur Antoine. Inspired by Joan of Arc, he created the famous "Garçonne" cut in Paris, the boyish short bob that became a symbol of emancipation in the 1920s, with wearers such as fashion designer Coco Chanel, actress Louise Brooks and dancer Josephine Baker. He was the first to carry the Parisian style to America, where he soon also styled the style queens of modern times: the Hollywood studios signed him.

Hair as a fetish, as a trademark, as an art object, as a mirror of the epoch: today hair artists like Charlie Le Mindu, Marisol Suarez or Alexis Ferrer brush our hairstyle habits against the grain with his digitally printed hair tattoos. Anyone looking for inspiration for a new hairstyle will not only find what they are looking for here, but will also get the entire cultural and historical package. Please let it take effect!

Hair and body hair», vom 5. April bis 17. September im MAD Paris. www.madparis.fr