 Author Name: Legros
Title: L'Art de la Coeffure des Dames dans le nouveau gout D'aprésent...
Publisher: Paris 1768
Seller ID: 514
Engraved throughout with title, introduction and 28 plates, title and last few plates stained, book-label of Louis Becker, modern near-fine calf-backed boards, contemporary wrappers bound in (stained), 8vo (1768). An insight into the style of the late eighteenth century can be found in this hairdressing manual - one of earliest guides dedicated solely to this craft. Legros, cook-turned-coiffeur, was stylist to Queen Maria Thérèse Leczinska, wife of King Louis XV of France. He presented himself as first among his fellow coiffure artists, whose creations for court, town and the theatre won him the accolades of queens, princesses, and women of good taste in France and other European countries. A savvy entrepreneur, Legros used such marketing strategies as sending hired models to walk along the Parisian ramparts, a fashionable promenading spot, and exhibiting dolls at one of the well-known city fairs. Additionally, he offered a mail order service for women in the provinces and at foreign courts. With information provided by the client as to hair color and head size, any number of the coiffures that appeared in his plates could be made up with false hair, with Legros' assurance that they would pass for real. Legros also established the first hairdressing school, his Académie de Coëffure, which trained would-be professionals as well as valets-de-chambre and ladies' maids. Students who successfully completed the three-year coursework received certificates with seals designed by Legros and indicative of their level of accomplishment. These seals decorated boxes sent to out-of-town clients as well. This volume is extremely rare and would be one of the highlights of any collection on fashion and hairstyles. First edition.
Hair, Fashion, Wigs
Price =
2034.39 USD |
