Alexandre was born on 6 September 1922 in
Saint-Tropez,
France. In 1938, he began working as an apprentice at a hair salon in
Cannes (
French Riviera). He soon became the head apprentice ("premier garçon") of his mentor
Antoine de Paris. In this salon he met Andrée Banaudi, to whom he remained married until his death. In 1946, he became famous for his masterpiece, the coiffure of
Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan (Yvette Labrousse) for her wedding with
Aga Khan III. In that year he originated the chignon as art form, with different twists on the classic style. Later, for a 1961 dinner given at the
Chateau de Versailles by
Général de Gaulle in honour of the U.S. President
John F. Kennedy, Alexandre would put
diamonds in
Jackie Kennedy's chignon. He worked for over 40 years with the masters of French
haute couture:
Coco Chanel,
Yves Saint-Laurent,
Hubert de Givenchy,
Christian Dior,
Karl Lagerfeld,
Madame Grès,
Pierre Balmain,
Gianfranco Ferré,
Jean-Paul Gaultier and
Thierry Mugler. Like them, he became a well-known symbol of French elegance. In 1952, he opened a salon jointly with the Carita sisters. Five years later, in 1957, he opened his own salon on the
Rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré in Paris.
Jean Cocteau, his friend, designed his logo, nicknaming him "le Sphinx de la Coiffure". Later, in 1982, he opened a second salon, Avenue Matignon, in Paris. His clientele included
Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands, the
Duchess of Windsor (who had introduced him to the international aristocracy as he was starting out),
Isabelle, comtesse de Paris,
Jacqueline de Ribes,
Aimée de Heeren,
Farah Diba,
Hope Portocarrero,
Gloria Guinness,
Dolores Guinness,
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis,
Queen Sirikit of Thailand,
Frederica of Hanover,
Princess Grace of Monaco, and also actresses such as
Audrey Hepburn,
Lauren Bacall,
Liza Minnelli,
Shirley MacLaine,
Greta Garbo,
Maria Callas,
Sophia Loren,
María Félix,
Banu Alkan,
Arletty,
Michèle Morgan and
Romy Schneider and Amel Taourit. In 1963, he created
Elizabeth Taylor's hairdo for the film
Cleopatra. He was very close to Taylor, whom he considered a personal friend. He designed her coiffures for many movies in which she starred, as well as for her wedding with actor
Richard Burton. For her, he also created the famous layered "artichoke" cut. In 1964, he created all of the hair designs for
Tippi Hedren in her role as a compulsive thief in
Marnie, directed by
Alfred Hitchcock. He was also the hairdresser of King
Hassan II and the Queen of Jordan and was invited by the
Shah of
Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to dress the hair of most prestigious guest of the lavish celebration of
Persepolis in 1971. He was the president of the Organization Mondiale de la Coiffure from 1978 until 1993. At the exhibition "The
Grace Kelly Years", in the summer of 2007 at the
Grimaldi Forum in
Monaco,
Frédéric Mitterrand gave a tribute to Alexandre's long-lasting work for
Princess Grace of Monaco by displaying a selection of original drawings, pictures and letters. The pieces are property of the
Grimaldi family. He died on 12 January 2008 at the age of 85 with his wife and two children by his side. ==Decorations==